Yay actual plot! And a certain character who I love to write XD
Sorry to leave you with another cliffy... oops.
Please review as it is pure joy for me to receive your thoughts and reactions xxx

I go to sleep smiling and wake up the same way. This is partially because my dreams were all highly pleasant replays of the gym floor incident and partially because, for the first time ever, I can dare to hope that my future might play out the way I've yearned for it to since I rebelled against Heaven. Probably since before that, although I had little comprehension of it at the time.

Of course, I tell myself sternly as I stroll up the hallway to the bathroom, Dean is still thinking about it. He could still decide that he wants nothing to change between us and that could be it, forever. But even though that would be legitimately heartbreaking, at least things would be clear and at least we'd both know for sure that the relationship we have is an honest one built on trust. I'd rather have a firm and lasting friendship with Dean than the tense, unsure one we've been skirting around for the past week.

I really want to kiss him again, though.

After I brush my teeth and drag damp fingers through my unruly hair, I change into the grey shirt and green plaid. I'm just contemplating whether I want to attempt cooking eggs for breakfast, walking towards the kitchen, when Dean hisses my name from his doorway ten feet behind me.

I turn slowly, unable to keep my face from warming. "Dean?"

He glances up towards Sam's room and then looks back at me, green eyes wide. "C'mere."

Heart fluttering, wondering if this could be the moment when my future is reshaped forever, I half-stumble back to his door. Dean reaches out and yanks me into the room by the sleeve, pulling me straight past him and shutting the door quietly. I peer at him, a little suspicious now of his stealthy behaviour.

"Dean, what's-"

"I need to talk to you," Dean interrupts me, looking serious. He's still in boxers and the same Metallica shirt I wore on my first night here. My eyes snag on a stain on the hem from where I dripped toothpaste foam on it and I raise my eyebrows in surprise. Dean hasn't washed it since I wore it.

"I know I'm supposed to be avoiding you until I've sorted myself out or whatever," Dean is saying in a low, urgent voice, and I re-focus on his words. "But this could be real important, and it's about Sam."

I straighten up, alert. "Ezekiel?"

Dean nods, eyes anxious. I fold my arms, frowning at the door behind him.

"I knew that something was wrong there," I mutter. I glance back up at Dean. "What is it?"

"I don't know, but Zeke is up to something, that's for damn sure," Dean says, stabbing a finger downwards for emphasis. "I went to talk to Sammy last night and I was, well, I was stalling, and I ended up rambling about the trip to see Charlie instead. And Sam said-"

"Stalling?" I cut in, confused. Dean snaps his mouth shut, looking oddly sheepish.

"Well, yeah," he mumbles, looking away, cheeks pink. One of his hands plucks at the hem of his shirt, right over the toothpaste stain, and my mouth twitches upwards at how endearing the small action is. He clears his throat and continues reluctantly: "I went to talk to him about you. And about, um, you know, stuff."

"Stuff?" I repeat, my mind seeming to process this information very slowly. Dean shoots me a flat, unimpressed look.

"Yes, OK? I do in fact talk about my feelings sometimes. And Sam is smart about that crap. Well, compared to me anyway. Look, that's not-"

"You were asking Sam for advice about me?" I smile, flattered and touched that Dean is giving so much thought to the developments occurring in his relationship with me. Dean rolls his eyes, throwing his hands dramatically in the air and turning to the side, a sure sign that he's deeply uncomfortable.

"Can we get back on topic?" he asks loudly. I shove my hands into my pockets and nod, still smirking at him. He turns back to me, bright red but looking determined to pretend otherwise.

"Right, well, I was talking to Sam and I mentioned this bar we went to because Charlie insisted that Sam and me drink cocktails with her, like a goddamn girl's night out. And Sam started talking about how the cocktails were real strong, which I thought was weird because he only had two and I sure didn't think they were that lethal. He told me that he went to use the bathroom soon before we left and he just... blacked out. Stepped into the hallway and suddenly he was outside the bar and twenty minutes had gone by according to his phone."

I'm frowning in concentration. "Ezekiel must have taken over during that time."

"Yep. But why?"

"I don't know. How did you not notice Sam being gone for that long?"

The colour that's faded from Dean's cheeks returns as he glances at the floor, fidgeting with his shirt again. "Ah. Well, I may have done some shots with Charlie as soon as he left and we were, uh, we were on the dancefloor after that. I figured Sam lost us. He didn't say anything."

I raise my eyebrows in amusement. "I didn't know you danced."

"Believe me, I don't," Dean snaps, scowling at his feet. "Charlie is a bad influence."

I'm grinning now. "I'd like to meet her."

Dean glances up at me and relaxes, smiling fondly. "Yeah, she'd like to meet you too."

We smile at each other for several seconds before Dean blinks. "So. Um. Sam. Zeke. What do you think?"

I blink too, a little chagrined at how easily distracted I am by this man. I focus with some difficulty. "I think that it's concerning that Ezekiel took over for so long and took Sam outside the bar. Something clearly occurred there. However, it could be that Sam was in some kind of danger, which Ezekiel averted. We can't really know unless Ezekiel tells us, or someone else who was there."

Dean nods slowly, frowning, and then his eyes widen. "Shit, I'm an idiot. The cameras! The bar's gotta have cameras."

"That would be incredibly helpful. How can we check the footage though?"

Dean shrugs. "Charlie can probably get hold of it, she lives there and I think she still has her fake badge."

I nod seriously. "That works. You'd better call her and ask. The sooner we see that footage, the sooner we can work out what Ezekiel may or may not be up to. Do you think he might have noticed Sam telling you about his black out? How did you react?"

Dean is already shaking his head. "Nope. I almost talked right over him and then we were talking about... other stuff. So I didn't really register what he said until afterwards."

Despite myself, I smirk again. "Oh, other stuff?"

"Shut up," Dean mumbles as he ducks past me to retrieve his phone from the bedside table. I wrap my arms around my stomach, squeezing lightly, and try to suppress my grin with difficulty. Turning, I see that Dean has dialled Charlie and is peering at me as it rings, although he turns away quickly when I meet his eyes. I hear Charlie answer and the volume is loud enough in the quiet room that I can make out what she's saying.

"Hey, Deano!"

"Hey, Charlie, how's the new place?" I can hear the affection in Dean's voice and I'm glad that I know how things really are, because it causes me no envy.

"Seems pretty awesome so far but, ya know, early days. What's up?"

Dean rolls his shoulders before launching into an explanation.

"OK, just bear with me. There's something I didn't tell you about Sam. He's not well right now, and it's hard to explain but... OK, don't freak out but he's kinda possessed. Not fully, but an angel is sort of... in him, right now, helping him. He doesn't know about it."

There's a silence and I stick my hands nervously back into my pockets. Dean fidgets, spinning slightly so that I can see his profile, one hand resting on his lower back with the elbow stuck out and fingers curled in.

"You want me to not freak out?"

"Yeah, that'd be great."

"O-kay... How about I just pretend like I'm not freaking out?"

Dean snorts, shaking his head and visibly relaxing, and I grin. I like Charlie.

"Yeah, that works. Look, the angel's name is Ezekiel and until now I've mostly trusted him. But Sam says he blacked out when we were at that bar the other night. You remember our night out? With the cocktails and that chick with the tattoos?"

"Oh, hell yeah I remember her."

"Yeah, thought you might. Well d'you remember Sam disappeared for a while when we did those tequila shots?"

"Dean, I literally don't remember anything after those tequila shots."

"You said you remembered tattoo chick!"

"I remember her from the next morning?"

Dean laughs again. "Fair enough. Well, Sammy was gone for like twenty minutes and he doesn't remember what happened and it must have been Ezekiel. So what we need to do is get the CCTV footage from that bar. You reckon you can use your badge and get hold of that?"

"On it. I'll email you the footage, OK?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Charlie. I owe you one."

"Nah, it's for Sam, I want to help. Besides, we both know what you can do to repay me."

There's a pause before I see Dean's eyes go wide and flicker inexplicably towards me, not quite meeting my eyes. His free hand fists at his side.

"Charlie-"

"Oh, come on, Dean. Let's not pretend that Sam's the only Winchester who could do with an angel inside of him."

Dean closes his eyes, a small horrified sound escaping him, face contorting into a grimace. It takes me a second or two, but then-

"Oh," I say out loud, shock jolting me into speech. Dean winces at the sound but keep his eyes closed. I blink several times, my face steadily getting warmer, trying not to think too much about the implications of what Charlie just said. She speaks again, having not heard my voice.

"Dean, don't get all mad, I'm just kidding. Well, I'm actually not, but-"

"Cas is here," Dean cuts across her, eyes still shut. His voice is a little strangled. "Just in case you wanna, I don't know, shut up at any point."

I feel a ridiculous urge to laugh. There's another pause before Charlie responds.

"Well, fuck. I am super sorry. Um, hi, Cas! Just, uh, ignore what I said, it's this stupid joke that Dean and I-"

"Don't worry about it," Dean interrupts her loudly, finally opening his eyes and staring at the opposite wall, fist still clenched by his side. The silence that follows this is unbearably awkward and I step forward, ignoring Dean's flinch.

"Hello, Charlie," I call out cautiously, hoping that my voice will carry through the phone that's still several feet away. Her response is far too enthusiastic.

"Oh, hey! Cas! I mean Castiel! It's you! I have heard so much about you, I mean not relating to what I said, that's another thing but anyway-"

"Oh my God, Charlie," Dean says flatly, closing his eyes again in apparent pain. "Please, please stop talking."

"Yeah, sorry, good plan. Bad Charlie."

I can't really stop the chuckle that bubbles out of my throat and Dean's eyes flash back open, meeting mine in disbelief. I press my lips together but it takes mere moments for my control to break and then I'm laughing properly, doubling over with my hands on my knees for support, eyes screwed up in mirth. I've never laughed like this before. It feels good in an odd, pure way. I can hear Charlie giggling along with me and I gasp as I straighten back up, grinning at the phone. Dean is staring at me, his own lips quirked even as he clearly tries to keep a straight face.

"Well, I'm real glad you two get along," he says dryly. I give one last breathless chuckle as I regard him warmly and he flushes, rolling his eyes and looking away. "Look, Charlie, I have to go but please, get hold of that footage ASAP, yeah? It's important."

I sober immediately, a little ashamed that I've been laughing carelessly while Sam could be in danger. Charlie is serious again on the phone too, promising to go straight to the bar and send us the footage within a day or two. She calls a goodbye to me and I respond immediately, already attached to the young woman. Dean sighs and shakes his head as he hangs up.

"Well, that's Charlie," he tells me unnecessarily as he puts the phone back on his bedside table. I watch him, hands back in my pockets.

"I like her," I say quietly. Dean hesitates, still not facing me. When he speaks his voice is barely a mumble.

"About, um, what she said..."

I fight back a smirk. "It's alright. It was quite an amusing situation."

Dean sighs. "I just don't want things to be awkward."

"You mean like this is awkward right now? Dean, you can look at me, I'm not offended."

Another sigh. Dean slowly swings around to face me, arms folded and face flushed, raising worried green eyes to mine. "I just don't want you to feel like we have to think about that stuff yet, you know?"

I cock my head in confusion, my heart rate hastening. We? Yet? What?

"I mean," Dean continues, oblivious to my hitched breathing, "There doesn't need to be any pressure on us, about anything."

Us?

"Wait," I say, drawing my hands out of my pockets to hold them up in a halting gesture. "Wait, Dean, I think I may have missed a crucial point in a conversation somewhere. I'm not really sure how human relationship boundaries work. Have we become... a couple?"

Dean stares at me, mouth snapping shut and breathing suspended. The silence stretches out and my pulse only picks up speed.

Finally, Dean opens his mouth to reply.