"Dean, are you okay?" Sam rushed up to him from down the walkway, his footsteps a metallic echo in the facility. He clearly hadn't noticed Dean's tag-along yet.

"I'm alright," Dean smiled, waiting for Sam to get close until he could force the teen into a headlock. "Maybe next time don't run into the creepy laboratory all by yourself, huh?"

"Agh!" Sam croaked and struggled to break free, his hands pulling at Dean's arm in futility.

Castiel suddenly let out an anxious shriek, desperate and worried whines following as he swatted at Sam to try and get him away. Dean let go of Sam immediately before Cas could do any damage, and turned to try and hush his new friend, "It's okay, Cas." He smiled as Sam floundered away, nothing but confusion and shock coming from him. "It's alright, that's just Sam,"

Cas' wings flapped nervously and he watched Sam with shining eyes, they were almost like a flashlight on the dimly lit path. He snorted and shuffled behind Dean again, peering over his shoulder; Dean could tell every time Cas blinked just by the way the lighting around them flashed off and on again.

"What the hell?!" Sam finally managed a sentence; it was exactly what Dean figured it would be.

"This is Castiel, I found him down there." He motioned behind him.

Sam looked at Cas then back at Dean with a furrowed brow, "Were there any other humans down there?"

"Not that I saw, but I'm not sure that…" Dean trailed off and glanced back at Cas who looked at him too, the threatened glow fading again. Castiel's hand reached slowly and grabbed onto Dean's shirt, gripping onto it determinedly. Dean smiled sadly and turned back to Sam, "I'm not sure how much human is in him."

"He looks human," Sam stepped closer and in the same instant that blue glow flared up again, Castiel hissed in protest of Sam's proximity. The younger Winchester froze and looked at his brother warily, "Okay, not that human, got it."

"He communicates without words," Dean shrugged and glanced at Cas, also a little nervous about it. He didn't have any control over this wild experiment, Cas just happened to take a liking to him. It was probably the granola bar. "He's really hungry though, maybe give him some food?"

"I don't keep food in my pockets, Dean."

"Oh,"

Sam raised an eyebrow at him, "Do you?"

"I had a granola bar from earlier and gave it to him, he's liked me ever since." Dean started down the path again, "C'mon, let's find Jet."

"He's probably pissed."

"He's always pissed."

Sam slowly took up the rear and Castiel turned to keep an eye on him the entire walk back to the first room. "Do you have anything else to feed him? I'd prefer it if he didn't stare at me like a murderer."

"Who's the murderer? You or him?" Dean laughed as Sam scoffed in response.

"Either one in this case."

As they entered the more mechanical area with brighter lighting Castiel cooed and blinked repeatedly. He pressed his face to Dean's back to hide from the strange lights; he wasn't a big fan apparently.

"Yo!" Jet called to them from the control console; somehow Dean wasn't surprised his friend hadn't moved from there. "What the hell, Dean!? You could've been killed!"

"Watching the cameras?" Dean grinned, a feeling of embarrassment etching itself into his skin. It was fine if no one saw him waltz into an unknown space with a possible mutant, however knowing that Jet watched him do it made him feel foolish.

"Yeah I was, and I didn't learn anything new about you." Jet spat angrily, "You've always been a fuckin' moron."

"Watch the hostility," Sam tried to say softly as they walked closer to the stairs, "the caged person is still with him and doesn't like it when you're rough with Dean."

Jet snorted out a laugh, it was bitter at best, "You brought the possible killing machine with you, why am I not surprised."

"Because you watched it."

"Fuck off,"

As they made their way closer to Jet, Castiel gripped Dean's shoulders harder. He looked around rapidly, everything was new to him and he barely recognized anything if he did at all. Dean looked over his shoulder with a smile, "You okay, Cas?"

Castiel whined in response, his gaze still darting across the room wildly. He was so distracted by everything else that he hadn't realized how close he'd gotten to another strange person. He stopped when Dean did and kept close to him, but when Jet spoke it startled him.

"So what's your plan with him? Take care of him until he functions in society?"

Dean flinched when Cas' fingernails dug into his shoulders, "I don't know, what d'you want me to do? Just put him back in that cage and leave? He's starving!"

"No, I'm not saying-" Jet stopped and pinched the bridge of his nose, a heavy sigh escaping him, "Alright, whatever, do what you have to. But I swear to god, if he goes nuts and kills you in your sleep I will have no sympathy."

"You're heartless," Dean changed his tone, pouting in jest. "Just look at him, Cas wouldn't do that to me."

"I'm sure he wouldn't," Jet mused with a cocked eyebrow.

"Oh," Dean lit up, "you still got that granola bar I gave you?"

Jet's eyebrow slowly rose higher, "I do."

"Can you give it to Cas? He's really hungry."

Jet looked at Castiel who was staring intensely back. "Will he stop looking at me like that?"

"Yeah, just do it." Dean smiled, silently glad he might get Castiel to let go of his skin.

Jet reached into his pocket and just the sound of the same wrapper had Castiel perking up, his fingers loosened and he leaned in a little closer. As soon as he saw the same thing he grunted excitedly and tugged on Dean, trying to share his joy. He hurried forward and hesitated when he got too close to Jet, warily reaching out for the bar. Jet offered it freely, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Cas inched closer and snatched his prize, in the same movement he turned and leapt back behind Dean and into his safe zone.

"He's cute," Jet admitted shamelessly, "kinda reminds me of a two-year-old."

"Jet," Sam had that warning tone on, "he's not a kid, he's a grown man. Don't infantilize him."

"Well he's either acting like a kid or a dog, take your pick."

Neither Dean or Sam acknowledged Jet's comment with a response, they shared a similarly pissed off expression. Before either could tell him he was an asshole, however, the sound of angry growling and crunching plastic filled the area. Dean turned to Cas who was viciously chewing on the plastic wrapping. He looked back at Dean and his expression fell from rage to despair in a flash. Cas took the thing out of his mouth and looked down at it sadly, like it was never coming out and he'd never eat again.

Dean stuck his hand out, "Here Cas, let me do it."

Castiel placed it in his palm and turned away, dejected by his snack. Dean kept the 'ew it's got spit on it' thought to himself as he tore the wrapper off from the assigned edges. "There," he barely managed to say the word before Cas was on him, staring in amazement at the freed granola. Cas looked up at Dean with wide eyes and a pleading groan deep in his throat.

"It's all yours man, take it." Dean offered it to him again and Cas took it immediately, no hesitation at all.

"So does that count as me giving it to him or you?" Jet asked, an amused smirk on his face as he watched Cas devour it.

"Does it matter?" Sam joined in, Dean could tell he was still a little upset that Cas didn't like him immediately. "Come on, let's get upstairs again. This place is giving me the creeps."

"Thought you wanted to rescue all the animals?" Dean was genuinely surprised but Sam gave him a look as if he'd been trying to poke fun.

Jet laughed and leaned back against a railing, "He didn't have the same luck you did, most of these things are monsters and I'd be willing to bet they're starving too."

"They were pretty intent on eating me." Sam folded his arms over his chest, "But at least we got him out."

"Cas here is the only human hybrid," Jet straightened up again and walked over to the camera controls, "Everything else is all animal and vicious as fuck or dead."

Dean didn't want to think about what that meant for Cas, that maybe he was actually more deadly than he let on. He watched the screens as Jet flipped through them; he saw a lot of large teeth as well as unmoving bodies.

"The cameras automatically siphon through any cages with something moving in them, there are a lot of cells in this place and we only saw a fraction of them when we walked in." Jet explained, undoubtedly learned from his choice to stay in the information booth. "Which means there are a lot of decaying things down here."

"Yeah," Sam walked past them, "that's why we should go upstairs now."

"Agreed." Dean was right on his heels with Cas in tow behind. It was a little difficult to drag Castiel through the remainder of the basement and up the stairs with him trying to stop and look at everything, but Dean managed to do it.

They stepped out into the fancy hallway and Cas instantly snapped back into place against Dean's back. He whined softly and nested his jaw into place in the curve of Dean's neck and shoulder, eyes wide and glancing about.

"It's safe, Cas." Dean reassured him as they strolled down the hall, he looked over at Sam and then back at Jet, "Did anyone find the kitchen?"

"Nope," both said simultaneously.

"Awesome."

Sam pointed toward the entrance, "We could go back to the front, the kitchen's usually in the center, right?"

"Dunno, I don't visit a lot of mansions." Jet answered sarcastically.

Dean huffed out a laugh, "We'll find it, but I have a feeling it's empty,"

"Good point, pizza it is." Jet whipped out his phone and dialled before the other two could agree or protest. "The usual?" He asked with a smug grin.

"Totally," Dean gave a thumb's up and his hand was grabbed by his cling-on in seconds. Castiel looked at it and checked to see if anything was in his palm. He found nothing and dropped Dean's hand with a displeased snort. "No Cas," Dean tried not to laugh at him, "it's just a hand gesture, I don't have food."

Cas gurgled back at him as if it were an understandable reply. He stepped away from Dean and started down the hall to where Sam had been pointing.

"I'm gonna say it," Jet said after getting off the phone with the pizza delivery folks and looked Dean right in the eye, "Give him some goddamn pants."

Sam laughed and followed Castiel's lead, "Why do I get the feeling he isn't going to take kindly to pants?"

When Cas reached the entrance he stopped and took it all in; high ceilings with warm lighting, huge windows that led outside, and just an unbelievable amount of stuff to look at. He slowly allowed his wings to unfold from his back, the understanding that nothing would hurt him finally sinking in. He turned back to smile at Dean, the only person he truly acknowledged in a positive way. Dean smiled back and Cas took that as his opportunity. He flew up to the very top of the landings; sitting on the fourth floor railing he inspected the new area.

Dean smiled as he walked into the middle of the entrance, he couldn't help but feel excited about the whole thing. Castiel was getting to know freedom in a way Dean had never done, he was seeing tiled flooring and sunlight for the first time since MacLeod had put him in that basement. Dean had no idea how that could feel, how amazing everything must have looked to Cas in that moment.

Jet walked up beside him, with arms crossed and a content expression he chuckled quietly, "I have a feeling that the delivery guy isn't going to take kindly to a naked dude with wings."

Dean's eyes widened and he looked at Jet's calm demeanour, "We gotta get him to another room."

"Might be a good idea," Jet shrugged, Dean hated him a little for his nonchalance.

"Cas buddy why don't you come back down?" he called up but Castiel responded with an excited cry, flapped his wings and ran down the hall into a portion of the house Dean had not yet seen. "Goddamn it, Cas." He sighed and ran to the stairs, pausing half way up when he noticed Jet and Sam hadn't moved. "You guys gonna help or not?"

Sam and Jet shared a look, a quick and quiet conversation Dean couldn't make out transpired before Jet looked back at him, "I guess so, but Sam's gonna stay and wait for the pizzas."

"Fine! Just one of you dorks help me out," he demanded and began the hunt for his excitable wingman, praying silently that Cas stayed away from the door when the pizza arrived.