Author's Note:

What up guys? I'm sorry for the few days I took a break there. But something cool happened! Tumblr just got instant messaging so if anyone wants to chat with me send me a message there, I'm Zafona there too of course! Anyone is welcome to do it, I'd love to talk to you guys.

"Ready," Jet proclaimed proudly as he stepped up with his new 'invention.' He was calling it 'The Official Cas Harness,' or TOCH as he seemed to prefer. It was a backpack, more or less. Jet had 'edited' –his words- the concept and added some little tweaks of his own. There was a place for a leash attachment otherwise it was a crude version of a climbing harness and only made both Winchesters question why they didn't just go out and get a real one. Of course, the only bags Jet had available were the ones belonging to the three of them, Sam hadn't been too happy but he was promised a better one.

Dean's concerns about Castiel running away didn't die down with Jet's new invention.

"It's not gonna work," Sam said outright and Jet immediately flipped him off.

"It'll be fine for the back yard, you don't give Cas enough credit."

"It's not Cas I'm doubting here," Sam smirked when Jet angled a pissy look his way. "Plus it's kinda ugly…" He added off-handedly, Dean silently appreciated his bravery.

"Well he's not interested in visual aesthetics, if it was a big deal I'd put more style into it." Jet replied coarsely but not too bad, he didn't always take criticism well when it came to his 'art.' There was a part of it that allowed a leash, which was also something Jet tried to make. Dean imagined Cas snapping the whole thing, or, if Cas wasn't strong enough to tear it, he'd take the person for one hell of a ride.

"How're you gonna get it on him?" Sam asked, watching Castiel entertain himself with flying around the 4-floored entrance.

"I'll show him how it works," Jet looked up and whistled once to see if he could get Castiel to look his way. It didn't work like it had the last time and he tried again.

"He's not a dog, remember?"

"C'mon, I whistle at you guys to get your attention too, it's not just a dog thing."

Dean rolled his eyes and gave it a shot, "Hey Cas, come here buddy." It didn't sound much better than Jet's whistling but it at least felt a little less like treating him as an animal.

Regardless of their bickering as to how to get Castiel to come closer, he listened to Dean's call and dropped down beside him. Cas purred and rubbed his cheek against Dean's, unaware of what they were planning on doing that evening.

With some effort on the part of everyone present, Castiel was in his new harness and goddamn did he hate it. It didn't take too much to get it on him but once it was he started to make faces about the whole thing. He pulled at it and flapped his wings irritably, though each fidgeting motion Dean tried to calm down with a 'shush.' Cas inevitably growled at Dean's hushing, getting grumpier about it with each passing second.

"I don't get why he doesn't like it," Jet said and Dean wasn't sure if the guy was kidding or not.

"It's uncomfortable and stupid, maybe?" Sam offered an explanation and moved to remove it from Castiel before they had another 'pants' situation. "We'll just have to take our chances with it."

"If you leave it on him he'll get used to it," Jet argued and stopped Sam from taking it off. "I know it's not pretty but it's not that bad!"

Sam pushed Jet back with a sneer, "You're such a narcissist you can't even see when your idiotic inventions aren't working! He doesn't like it, we'll try something else."

"You didn't even give it a chance!"

Dean stood back quietly while the two argued and held in his laughter as Castiel snuck away from them also. Cas slipped behind Dean and peeked out, glancing up at his chosen hiding spot warily. "I dunno," Dean whispered with a small chuckle and grazed his hand over Castiel's head. "C'mon, let's go outside before they figure this out." He took Cas' hand and led him to the door, being as much a wallflower as he could manage with a winged boy following him.

The sunlight had Cas wincing at first, squinting at the landscape around him. His fingers tightened around Dean's and he took a step closer, it wasn't familiar and he was unsure of himself but he trusted Dean. If there was anything around him that he wanted to be near it'd be Dean, at least until he learned the surroundings a bit better. Dean remembered it went a similar way when they took him out of the basement.

While Cas adjusted to the new lighting Dean unclasped the harness and ran his hand over smooth shoulders. "There you go," part of him was scared. Scared that Castiel would run, that he'd fly away and never come back. It'd be the end of Dean ever knowing him, only a couple days of contact and that was it. He wasn't ready to lose Cas just yet, he didn't know why exactly but he didn't want Castiel to leave.

Another part of him thought Jet was right, that even if Cas flew around in his new freedom he'd still come back. He'd return to Dean because that's where he wanted to be. It would be a satisfying conclusion, but not without the stress.

Castiel stayed by Dean's side and held his hand firmly; Dean knew that Cas wouldn't stray too far just yet. So instead of standing around he led Cas to the lawn; the first time Cas' bare feet touched the grass he yipped and hopped back. It was the same reaction as before; when Cas wasn't expecting a new texture under his feet it generally spooked him. Dean wondered if his angel-esque friend was extra sensitive; tickling came to mind but he decided to leave that for another time.

It took a couple more taps of Cas' foot on the lawn before he hopped onto it and wriggled his toes in the short green stuff. His wings perked up and the tips fluttered as he cooed his intrigue. He looked up at Dean with wide eyes, his face lit up in that way that made Dean smile.

"It's okay," Dean motioned to the grass, "go ahead."

As if understanding him Cas let go of his hand and ran, dropping after a few feet and rolling in the newest experience. Seeing those bright wings in the sunlight just seemed right to him, Dean wasn't sure how anyone could leave someone like Castiel in a basement like that.

"Dude," Jet smacked his shoulder, Dean knew it was about the harness but he didn't care.

"He looks happier without it," he replied casually, unable to look away from Castiel's enjoyment.

Sam walked up beside them with a smirk on his face, "Told you-"

"Not a word out of you," Jet cut him off and made both Winchesters laugh.

Castiel was covered in grass, dirt, and leaves after about ten minutes of his rolling spree and he loved every second of it. He clambered back to his feet and ran along the lawn, just running with no goal. It was amazing how fast he was, especially with the massive sails attached to his back to slow him down. Dean watched on with minor tension, trying to keep himself from micromanaging Cas' joy at all.

Sam on the other hand had an entirely different view. "I'm a little envious of him,"

"Why?" Jet raised an eyebrow, his tone dry at best. "Is it the human experimentation or the pretty face that gets you?"

"Shut up, it's because he's reliving everything. Could you imagine if you didn't know what grass felt like? It'd be the most amazing day. Plus there's open air all around him, he doesn't remember this kind of environment. I just think it'd be incredible."

Dean understood where Sam was coming from, imagining the whimsical feeling of rediscovery was a pretty cool notion but it came at too great a price. "I bet he'd trade places with us if he understood this."

Sam sighed and started walking along the yard toward Cas, "I'm just trying to put a positive spin on it."

Castiel turned and ran back toward them; he circled around Sam a few times in his excitement, babbling his gibberish and moving on to the other two. He jumped on Dean, arms slung around his shoulders in a hug as he promptly licked him right on the mouth again, much to Dean's dismay. Dean heard Sam's immediate laughter as he tried to get Cas off his face. "Yeah, yeah, you're welcome buddy." He wiped his lips with the back of his hand and prayed neither his brother or friend could see the slowly reddening of his cheeks.

Cas nuzzled his cheek affectionately and took off running again, just around their general vicinity this time, periodically dropping to roll in the grass some more.

"What was that?" Sam couldn't hold back the giggles and though Dean was embarrassed he was still glad to see his brother laughing, to some extent anyway.

"Puppy mannerisms," Dean defended quickly, "dogs lick the mouths of the person they see as their master. He just kinda decided to do it earlier today, I have no idea why."

"You're the one that let him out, dumbass."

"I know that, shut up." Dean swatted at Jet who was smart enough to step aside before any contact was made. "I mean you guys were nice to him too, hell Sam got him pants without scaring him and you shredded the ones I was trying to force on him. I don't get why he picked me, that's all."

"Good point, maybe it's not a 'dog-master' relationship the way we think it is, maybe he thinks he's the master and does it to show dominance over his bitch." Jet snickered, still dodging Dean's swings.

"You're a dick,"

"Yeah but have you known me to be anything else?" Jet got close again after Dean quit trying to smack him and gave a quick shot to Dean's shoulder.

Just before he was about to retaliate he heard his phone ringing, "You got lucky," he pointed at his friend menacingly and answered his cell, "Hello?"

"Hey boy,"

"Bobby! What's up? How are you?"

"Could be better, could be worse. Can't really complain. How's it going for you? Classes ended didn't they?"

"Yeah, for Jet and I anyway, Sammy's still gotta go."

"He'll be there soon; so what's new?"

Dean smiled to himself; it was nice to hear Bobby's voice again. He felt a little bad for not calling more frequently but he was very much aware of the fact that Bobby Singer wasn't the type to accept calls with no purpose. Of course, Bobby was allowed to make those calls, that was an entirely different situation.

"A lot is new, actually. Remember how I told you about Jet's summer job?"

"And that creepy fella who'd make the dress code a bikini if it were legal?"

"The very same,"

"He mentioned the perverted thing, didn't he?" Jet mused distantly and Dean nodded.

"Well Bobby, the creepy dude died." Dean felt mildly bad about saying that with so much satisfaction but he couldn't help it. The fact that MacLeod was a psychotic pervert overshadowed human decency about the dead.

"Shit, where's Jet gonna get the money for college now? He ain't quittin' is he?"

"Won't be a problem seeing as how his boss left him everything in a will."

Bobby was quiet for a little bit, Dean counted five seconds. "You're kiddin'?"

"Nope, Jet's rich as hell. We even got a mansion outside of town."

"Son of a bitch didn't ditch you two free-loaders the second he hit big money, huh? Kid's got more character than I gave him credit for."

"Yeah right, you never thought for a second he'd ditch us. Anyway it's been a bit hectic, we've only known for a little over a day, trying to sort everything out. Not sure any of us know what to do with that much money."

"Invest in something, put it in a savings account-"

"Pay you back," Dean interrupted and heard Bobby scoffing on the other line.

"Don't bother; I got all I need here. You boys better keep goin' to college though,"

"I know, I know, no kids of yours are gonna be useless rich kids." He could hear the small sound of pride through the phone, Bobby loved it when Dean referred to him and Sam as 'Bobby's kids,' whether he'd admit it or not. "Don't worry; we're still going to school. Now I can actually focus on what I want to do, though. It's kind of a weird freedom."

"Don't waste your time with stupid shit just 'cause you can afford it, kid."

Dean was sure he could coax a lecture out of Bobby if he tried but that was far from his intention. "So… think you can come visit at least? I have a feeling getting you to move here might be asking too much."

"I'll come and check it out, sounds like you guys are a little lost without me."

"Please do, we don't know how to adult." Dean laughed with Bobby at that one, "But seriously, we'll cover it obviously. There's some more stuff I wanna show you, maybe you can help us out with it." He watched Castiel as he spoke; the joyful little brat was currently forcing Sam into hand-holding and spinning in circles. It was kinda funny to see Sam getting dizzy but Dean was more focused on what Bobby might say about the basement situation.

"Can't ask me over the phone?"

"It's really more of a 'show you' kind of thing."

"If you say so. I'll give you a call when I'm stateside."

"Thanks, see you soon Bobby." Dean hung up and sighed, it'd be nice to see Bobby again. As he contemplated how he'd show off their discovery to his father-figure, Castiel rushed to his side again. Dean prepared himself for another mouth licking but it didn't happen, Cas grabbed his hands and hopped up and down a few times instead. "Uh…" Dean didn't know what to say to the constant rambling he didn't understand coming from his new friend.

Cas showed no signs of frustration or worry he wasn't understood, he rushed around Dean in a few circles and hugged him from behind. Dean laughed a little and pat the rather strong hold around his abdomen, "You're welcome?"

While Dean was unsure if that was the correct response it turned out that it didn't matter too much. Castiel's wings moved a few times as practice and just before it happened Dean realized what Cas was up to. It was too late, of course, as Cas took off into the air.

"Oh my god!" Dean shrieked and flailed as he was instantly sure he was having a heart attack. He could hear Jet laughing and would've aimed vomit that bastard's way if he could, but it wasn't something he had control over.

"Don't worry Dean!" Sam sounded so distant but he still attempted to be calming, "He won't drop you, you'll be fine!" It didn't really work.

Dean wasn't even aware of how much he was screaming anymore, or if he'd even made a noise since he felt faint. The ground was too far below his feet and he could see the roof of the mansion. While the view was incredible from there he couldn't exactly enjoy it. "Put me down, Cas!" he cried, his fingers digging into the grip Castiel had on him.

He closed his eyes and tried to pretend he was somewhere else, that the breeze was just a regular wind and that he just frozen mid-jump or something. He wasn't flying. He wasn't flying.

In a few agonizing moments he felt something solid under his feet. "Holy shit," he gasped and collapsed onto it as soon as Castiel let go. The muscle around his eyes felt strained for how much he was suddenly using them.

"Dee?"

He paused; still trying to catch his breath he looked up and saw no one but Cas. "Hello?" he called breathlessly and realized he was on the flat roof part of the south wing. No one answered.

"Dee,"

Dean furrowed his brow and looked at Castiel, "Was that you?"

Cas tilted his head and reached over to touch Dean's, almost like he was checking for injuries. Dean noticed the marks on Cas' arms and felt a little bad. Not as bad as he would have if Cas hadn't just terrified him, but still pretty shitty all the same; it wasn't like Cas understood Dean was afraid of heights.

Castiel chirped some at him, like a conversation might go but it ended with "Dee."

"That was you," Dean lit up, "You're trying to talk, aren't you?" Cas didn't respond to that, his understanding was touch and go at times. That didn't stop Dean from latching on to that tiny little syllable, though. "You're trying to say Dean, right?"

"Dee," Cas attempted to mimic the sound again, still getting it wrong but convincing Dean all the same.

"You gotta show the other two," Dean got up and looked around, "How do we get down?" he feared the answer and hunted around for an alternative before it was ever vocalized.