Author's Note:

Sorry I suck this week! Had an interesting few days.

Anyway here you all go, and for those of you who don't already know I have a tumblr blog for my writing (zafiction) I've decided to use it to update you guys on where I'm at with chapters and whatever else. So please feel free to check in on me if I'm taking a while :)

"Dee?" Castiel asked tentatively as they started up the stairs, Dean paused and looked at his winged friend.

"What's up, Cas?" He wasn't expecting a response but Cas' face was pinched with what he could only describe as concern. Dean held Cas' hand firmly, part of him expecting a sudden escape into the facility. "You okay?"

Castiel looked back down the stairs, his jaw tight and his forehead wrinkled as a subtle nervous groan rumbled in his throat. Dean cupped his cheek and tilted his head back to face him, "It's alright, nothing's going to happen to you. Nothing down there is going to get you. I won't let anyone hurt you again, okay?"

Cas' eyes were fixated on Dean's as his lower lip started to tremble and tears welled up in his eyes. Dean knew Cas understood him that time, he pulled Cas close and hugged tightly. He tucked Cas' head against his shoulder and rested a hand in matted hair. There was a slight tremble in Castiel's body and a shuddered inhale, Dean wished there was a way to hold Cas closer.

"You recognized all those sounds from the videos, didn't you?" He whispered and Cas nodded against him, Dean had no idea such a simple movement could break his heart so much. "I'm so sorry, we shouldn't have done that in front of you…" Cas responded by digging his fingers into Dean's shirt and pressing his face down a little harder.

Dean slowly let his hand slide down Cas' head and back up again, a comforting sort of petting motion. He stood there with Cas for several minutes until he felt a calmness from Cas' posture. He couldn't imagine the kinds of things in Cas' mind, how affected he still was from all of the things done to him. Dean wished he could wipe it away, clear it from Castiel's memory and just let him recover in peace. Unfortunately he didn't have that kind of power, but he could at least hold Cas when it was needed.

The angel-esque boy nuzzled Dean's cheek before stepping back again; there was a serene expression on his face that melted Dean a little further. "You okay?" He asked and Cas nodded without a sound before taking up Dean's hand again.

He led Castiel up to the main floor and smiled when Cas rubbed his feet on the carpet again. It was always nice to see him enjoy something, even the most mundane things like carpet texture. "Thinking it's bed time?" Dean asked and Castiel hummed softly, as if contemplating the idea. He ultimately shook his head and ran off toward the entrance. "Guess not," Dean shrugged and followed suit, Sam and Jet were in the hall talking and were passed by Cas' sudden burst of energy.

"God I'm exhausted," Jet muttered and rubbed his eyes, he looked up at the Winchesters with a half-smile, "Thinking I'm gonna go to bed early," despite his words though, Dean could tell he didn't want to go to bed yet either.

Before either brother could respond to Jet, however, they watched with some minor horror as Castiel opened the front door. An excited chirp was what the guest received and Dean felt like he was unable to react properly, he imagined whoever was on the other side of the door had a similar feeling.

"Uh, hi?" It was Bobby. Dean ran to the door faster than Sam or Jet could really react.

"Bobby!" He jumped on the old man in a strong hug and was given one just as intense in return. "You said you'd call when you were stateside, I didn't think I'd see you so soon."

"Good to see you, boy." Bobby chuckled and gave Dean's shoulder a good squeeze once they separated. "I had a feeling things have been weird 'round here so I moseyed a little faster." He said casually as he looked at Castiel, who had taken a step back but stared curiously at the new person Dean was hugging.

"You could say it's been weird," Dean scoffed, "There's a lot to catch you up on."

"Hey Bobby," Sam walked up and got his hug too, clapping the old man on the shoulder once it was done.

"You got taller," Bobby's expression was one of astonishment; as if it was unbelievable that little Sammy could've ever gotten taller than he'd been as a 10-year-old. "And you," he looked over at Jet who was smirking at their little reunion, "you look pretty tired kid, what happened? I thought hitting it big would perk you right up."

"Yeah, you'd think." Jet got a solid pat on the back that made him lurch forward a little, "The money situation is cool; the rest is a long story."

"I've been gettin' that a lot." Bobby looked at the three boys with eyebrows raised, "Anyone wanna fill me in?"

Dean shrugged, "Well we can give you a quick rundown to explain Cas, I think we can show you the rest later."

"Then let's go sit down, I'm exhausted from driving all day."

"Totally, sitting room's this way." Sam motioned for Bobby to follow and the small crew settled down together.

Bobby looked around at the decorations and furniture as he slowly lowered himself onto the couch, "Wow, never imagined you boys living in a place like this… seems too rich for your blood."

"It is," Dean laughed in agreement, "For all three of us, but we're getting used to it."

"Don't let it go to your heads." Bobby said as Cas leaned over the couch behind him and sniffed less than subtly. Bobby jumped a little and spun around to stare at flickering blue eyes, "What's with you? Stop that."

"He's recovering from some serious human experiments," Sam right up and said it, no sugar coating necessary in his mind. The others all stared at him with some varying levels of surprise; Bobby wasn't quite ready for that answer. Dean briefly wondered if Sam understood what he'd meant when he said 'we'll show you the rest later.' "The basement is a playground for mad scientists."

"You're kidding?" Bobby looked at Castiel again; the dark haired male had popped up on the other side of the couch and stared at the old man intently. "Guess that explains it… how do you know?"

"Computers in the labs," Sam continued, Dean had a feeling it was a way for Sam to just get it out. He liked to explain things, that was probably the best way for Dean to understand it. "MacLeod, Jet's old boss, did animal and human experimentation. He combined DNA and spliced them together, he even figured out human cloning."

Bobby looked at Dean and Jet for clarification and all the two of them could do was nod. "You're telling me that creepy guy I accidentally met last summer was a scientific genius?"

"Either he was or he knew someone, but yeah, pretty much." Dean shrugged, he moved over a little when Cas decided to return to him. Wings fluttered and shifted until Cas got them into a comfortable position, tucked behind him and partially resting on Dean. It was definitely a sign of trust and Dean felt a little special for that, no one else had wings on them.

"So then I'm guessing that this is what you wanted to show me?" Bobby asked Dean specifically, he didn't need an answer though, it was pretty obvious. "I thought you sounded lost because you didn't know what you were doin' but this is totally different."

"Well technically we still don't know what we're doing," Jet pointed out nonchalantly; "We haven't moved much of our shit yet or changed our address, hell I haven't even called my mom about the money."

"My first piece of advice is telling her before she kicks your ass," Bobby pointed at him and Jet just tossed his hands in the air as if it wasn't that big a deal if she did. "My second is for you idiots to make a list of all the stuff you need to do, like moving your stuff for example."

"It's a little tough with Cas here," Dean was quick to defend their assumed laziness, "if we get a moving crew to come in then someone will have to hide Cas while they're here. If we go and move our own stuff then someone has to stay here so Cas isn't alone."

"Well you're in luck," Bobby chuckled, "I'm here, I'll watch him while you guys go and get your adult-ing done."

"You serious?" Dean blinked rapidly in surprise, "You sure? Cas can be a handful-"

"I looked after you guys, I'm sure I can handle him."

Jet raised an eyebrow and looked at the two Winchester boys, Dean could tell he was wondering if they'd let Bobby do that. There were a number of reasons not to let him; Cas flipped his shit when he saw himself, longer exposure to his presence gave nightmares, plus he was just relatively too curious for his own good.

"I feel like you're not prepared for that kind of day, Cas really can be tough to deal with. We don't know a lot about him yet, I mean we kinda do but…" Dean wasn't sure what he was saying anymore. Sure, they didn't know a ton about Cas but that didn't mean he was difficult. Cas didn't communicate normally but that didn't mean he was a handful. Sure, he did some scary things once in a while but he was so harmless toward Dean and the others. "You know what?" Dean shook his head and did his best to shake those thoughts out, "Forget what I said, we'll leave Cas to you for a day, Bobby."

"I appreciate the approval," Bobby smirked sarcastically and looked at Castiel, he clearly thought Cas was weird but it wasn't anything malicious. But then again he was talking about Bobby Singer, of course it wasn't malicious. "Anything I should know before tomorrow, then?"

The three young men looked at one another, "Well," Sam started, "I guess I'll start with a rule of don't show him a picture of himself."

"Yeah, also he hates everything involving MacLeod so if you try to put him near the bastard's scent Cas will not listen to you." Jet added.

"He eats a lot and pretty much anything," Dean joined in, "He'll miss us, he knows how to open doors, sometimes he tries to talk but mostly he'll gesture and make grunts. Also sometimes he understands what you say though mostly I think he doesn't. He likes flying but we've only let him out once and all three of us were there so maybe don't let him. No one has seen him yet so if someone comes over they shouldn't be around him-"

"You're getting into too much detail, bro." Jet put a hand on his shoulder and Dean clammed up.

"Sorry, I just want Bobby to be prepared for Cas shenanigans."

"We don't even know what those might all look like," Jet reminded him, Dean shrugged sheepishly in return. "Chill, Bobby can handle it."

"Yeah, you're right."

"I can also call you," Bobby pointed out, his expression showed his disbelief before he could say anything more. "What's with you, anyway? You're actin' like you'll be away from him for a week, not a few hours in one day."

"Dean hasn't been separated from Cas much," Sam laughed, "and when he was he knew that Cas already trusted Jet or me. You're a stranger for Cas, Dean's like a doting father."

"More like a lover of someone who recently had a severe personality change." Bobby muttered and Dean felt his cheeks heat up.

"Whatever, I care about him, it's not that weird." Dean grumbled bitterly. "Can we just hang out now?"

"One more thing," Jet looked at Bobby seriously, "We recently figured out that being around Cas can cause nightmares; I'm not sure if it'd happen to you but right now he's showing us some shit."

"He's giving you nightmares?"

"Basically, yeah, except he's more like hand delivering his personal experiences in dream forms. They just happen to be scary fuckin' shit so it becomes a nightmare." Jet's tone was a little angry, not that he didn't often sound that way but Dean noted the hesitation this time. Jet didn't want to go to bed or see that shit again, Dean didn't blame him.

"I've had scary nightmares before, I can handle it." Bobby replied and glanced around the room, "So does this place have beer or do I have to go to town?"

"We've got better shit than beer," Dean smirked and headed to the liquor cabinet in another room. He understood that Bobby didn't take much of what they were saying seriously yet. He hadn't seen what they saw; he didn't see the piles of dead animals in cages or mutants gnawing at the cameras. There were no videos Bobby could reference to know what Castiel Novak was supposed to be or what had happened to him. Dean almost wanted Bobby to see the nightmares, just to give the man some context into Cas' mind. But maybe that was a cruel thing to think.

Their party with Bobby went until at least 1am, Bobby tired out and the others knew they'd have a long day of packing and moving. Dean had made a list of places they'd need to stop at and then gave it to Sam to add to it by the morning. He was pretty sure that Sam was done with classes for the week, it didn't seem like he'd want to do much else at that time. Sam was a smart kid, Dean was sure he'd kick the shit out of those exams without much trouble or attendance.

Dean retired to his room with Castiel and sat on the bed, eyes open and staring but not really seeing anything. He drank a bit but not enough to get him drunk, at least not in his opinion anyway. Dean was so happy that Bobby showed up, he was happy that Cas seemed to like him in the few hours they were around one another, but he was nervous about the next day. Cas was getting a little better every day, what if something new happened? What if he remembered something and ran off? Or wanted to find Dean and the others so he'd run out the door and fly around and get lost?

While Dean contemplated the number of ways the next day could go wrong Castiel curled up on the bed beside him and used his lap as a pillow. Dean was by no means in a position ready to sleep but he couldn't help himself around Cas. He remained sitting up at the edge of the bed and placed his hand on Castiel's shoulder, a smile on his face as he watched the subtle twitch of Cas' eyelids.

"I might be a bit tipsy," he muttered and ran his hand over Cas' hair. He remembered Jet saying he didn't give Cas enough credit, insinuating that Castiel could handle himself better than Dean thought he could. Maybe it was true. Maybe Dean really didn't believe in Cas as much as he should've, but he didn't know what the line was between protective and insulting anymore. He wanted to keep Cas safe, too much had hurt that poor guy already. But at what point was it condescending? He'd have to figure that out before Cas started to feel it.

"Sorry I'm such an idiot," he sighed and dropped backward, Cas grunted a bit at the change in position and crawled further up Dean's chest, looking up at his face with weary eyes. Dean looked down at Cas for a few seconds before sleep swooped in on him.