Author's Note:
Hey guys, I don't know how many of you are still with me, this story has gotten to be quite the monster in size. I hope you're all enjoying this so far! Thanks so much for supporting me through all of this story, I feel like I don't say that enough
Dean stood in the waiting area with his hands shoved in his pockets and the knowledge that he'd just spilled as much of his guts as he could to the police. Donna was a sweetheart so he hadn't felt nervous about it at all while talking, though he did keep a few choice things to himself. Castiel's ability to cause nightmares, for example, was something he hadn't wanted to add for fear of sounding insane.
On top of that, he didn't want to say Cas was the one who killed MacLeod through a dream because that sounded equally nuts as well as threw his baby under a bus. No one needed to know that Cas had anything to do with a murder-esque situation, everything was messy enough as it was.
"How'd it go?" Michael approached him first and Dean could only laugh as he shrugged.
"It was pretty quick, I had Donna, she's a nice lady."
"Right…" Michael raised an eyebrow skeptically, "But did she let on anything about Cas? I mean, is he in trouble? Are we going to have to fight to keep him?"
"Nah, I don't think so." Jet said as he walked into the room, Desirae ran to meet him immediately. "They're pretty much on our side, far as I can tell."
"Then I'll trust that as the truth," Dean smirked and Jet stuck his tongue out at him.
"Was it scary?" Desirae asked as Nikki scooped her up. "Did they use a big bright light?"
"It was easy," Jet reassured and kissed her forehead, "You just tell them what you think is important for them to know, and if you get nervous one of us can sit in there with you."
"Can you sit with me?" She asked right away and Dean had to press his lips together to stop himself from letting out an 'awwwww.'
"I'll sit with you," Jet agreed and tried to take her from Nikki.
"After what I just heard?" Nikki protested and pulled Desirae away, "I'll sit with her, you take a break."
Rae looked up at her new grandma and nodded, "Okay! Good point, dad needs a nap."
Nikki's expression lost all traces of 'stubborn mom' and went right into 'sweetness' mode. "That's right, old people need their naps."
Jet opened his mouth to say something but stopped and chuckled instead, "Alright, if you think you can do it again I'll let you take her."
"Thanks gramma," Desirae hugged Nikki who was more than happy to hug back.
Sam nudged Dean's side, startling him but he was still pleased to see his brother. "Sammy, how'd it go?" He gave Sam a quick hug with the additional solid slaps to his back. Sam returned the gesture, though much lighter with the final patting gesture.
"Easier than I thought, longer than expected." Sam looked around, "I guess Cas had a longer story to tell…"
"Charlie's already inside, Cas should be out by now right?" Dean looked around the waiting area, Bobby shook his head as soon as Dean made eye contact.
"Nope, Charlie got called into Cas' room."
Dean furrowed his brow and glanced at Michael who still didn't look terribly calm about the whole thing. "Why did they need Charlie?"
"His officer came out and asked that she go see Cas, we don't know why." Michael's pensive posture was starting to feel contagious. Dean shifted anxiously and looked at the front desk, he knew they wouldn't have the answer but he wanted to ask anyway.
"Relax," Sam touched Dean's shoulder, "You're going to stress yourself out if you keep this up. Cas is fine, I'm sure we'd hear something if he were in trouble."
"You don't know that," Dean muttered and hunched up his shoulders, attempting to look calm and failing. "What if they did something to him? Like drugged him or something? Charlie could be in trouble too, maybe they took her because she looked like the biggest threat that wasn't already in those rooms."
"Hey," Michael protested but Dean waved him off.
"I should ask them what's up," Dean glanced at the counter again, narrowed eyes focused on the guy sitting at the main computer.
"Don't bother," Sam said and Dean glared at him.
"Well if we wait too long and something did happen we couldn't help, so I'm gonna-" a light tap on his arm made him look to the right and he saw wings quickly escaping from view. "Cas?" he asked and looked the other way to see his boyfriend in front of him.
"Hello Dee," Cas smiled, it wasn't the most relaxed smile but it was still there and that was all Dean could ask for.
"Are you alright?" he asked as he took Cas' hands in his, needing to hold Cas in some way or another. "I thought something might've happened."
"How long were you waiting?" Cas looked surprised and glanced at the others.
"About five minutes," Bobby grinned and Castiel started laughing.
"It was longer than that!" Dean argued loudly, getting the attention of others in the lobby.
"It really wasn't," Michael's shoulders shook a little as he tried not to laugh too.
"Whatever," Dean huffed and looked at Cas, "As long as you're okay, that's all that matters."
"I'm fine," Cas kissed him and practically draped himself over Dean's shoulders, "Just a little tired."
"We can go back to the hotel when this is all done," Dean kissed Cas' cheek and rested his head on Cas'. He was curious about Cas' experience but didn't exactly want to tire Cas any further. It had been a long day for all of them, hell it had been a long week.
"How was it in there?" Sam broke the silence by asking instead, Dean was still pretty torn up about how that made him feel.
"I needed Charlie," Cas motioned toward his bestie, who had stopped by the front counter for a moment. "It was a little more difficult than I thought, Victor let her sit with me."
"You already thought it was going to be tough," Michael said, the concern in his face hadn't faded all that much.
"I know," Cas nodded and smiled at his brother, "but it's alright, it would've been hard if I told them today or next year."
"Hey guys," Charlie walked over to them, "I asked if those of us who answered questions could go and they said yes." She looked at Cas more specifically, "So if you're tired you can go lie down for a while."
Castiel laughed softly and dropped his head against Dean's shoulder, "Yeah? That sounds nice."
"We could head back to the hotel," Dean nuzzled Cas' cheek lightly, "get you to sleep on something more comfortable than a hospital chair."
"That'd be really nice," Cas mumbled and stole another kiss.
"I'm gonna stay here," Jet's response wasn't a surprise to anyone. "Gotta make sure my favourite ladies get out safe," he winked at Nikki and Rae who both laughed, though his mom added an extra eye roll with hers.
"You gotta go sleep though," Desirae scolded him and he shook his head.
"I couldn't sleep without knowing how you were doing, I'll wait here." Jet was as stubborn as always, Nikki didn't even try arguing with him.
Dean didn't know what kind of conversation Nikki would've had with Jet, or if she even had one at all. They looked comfortable around one another, just like always, but Dean could see the little strain in Nikki's face. She had to cope with whatever she'd just heard in there, everything her boy had just gone through without her knowledge.
"We should stay," Cas whispered, "we can't leave him on his own."
Dean was about to respond but Sam was faster, "I'll stay with him, don't worry about it Cas."
Cas looked questioning but he accepted the answer, "If you say so."
"I do, you're falling asleep anyway." Sam huffed a laugh and pat Castiel's arm, "Go with Dean, you guys need somewhere good to sleep."
"Alright," Cas relented and looked at the others, "Good luck in there, I'll see you all later."
"Definitely," Michael moved in for a hug that Cas gladly accepted. "Go take a nap, kid."
It wasn't too long after that the others had to go in for the rest of the questioning. Dean couldn't believe they had done it, something he'd been afraid to do since he found Cas and it'd gone alright. At least so far, anyway.
Charlie joined them as they walked into the dimming light of the sun, the evening was young at the earliest. "Taxi?" she asked as she stretched, "Jet told me they had a hotel set up nearby, all we gotta do is give our names."
"Really?" Dean wasn't sure why he was so surprised, Jet was pretty good at planning that sort of thing. Maybe it was because he'd expected that his friend would've been too exhausted after losing an arm to think about it. "That's awesome, how far?"
Charlie took a pause to look it up, "A few blocks from the hospital."
"I have the keys," Dean reminded her and headed for the car, "Just tell me where to turn."
Gawking at the nice lobby was the first step, Dean couldn't believe Jet picked something so lavish. Sure, Jet could afford it but really? So fancy? Charlie approached the desk for them, Cas tried to keep himself very still in the big coat, hoping he wouldn't lose feathers. Dean just walked around looking at the statuettes and fancy trimmings. There was a chandelier above them for Pete's sake. He was just barely getting used to living in a mansion, he had no idea his best friend had such expensive tastes. Either that or Jet just picked one that didn't have bed bug alerts online. Dean really wasn't sure which one he believed more.
"Dean!" Charlie called him after he'd wandered too far, "C'mon, let's go."
"Yeah, yeah," he shoved his hands into his pockets and followed with a slouch. He didn't feel at home among fancy things, though complaining about it then seemed like a stupid thing to do. For one thing he'd already spent over two months in that kind of setting and said nothing about it. For another, Cas was walking around with a stupid coat to hide wings that he'd have to live with for the rest of his life. Dean's discomfort wasn't on par with that.
"This one's ours," Cas stated as he looked at the door numbers, "Jet got you your own, Charlie?"
"Yeah, apparently." She laughed in slight astonishment, "Well I'll catch you guys later, I'm gonna take a shower."
"Same," Cas cringed as he rubbed his hair, "eugh I feel gross…"
"It's not that bad," Dean kissed his cheek and watched the blush slowly creep into his angel's skin.
"I know you saw me way worse," Cas looked at him sheepishly, "But if you could do me a huge favour and forget about that part…"
"Never," Dean laughed when Cas lightly tapped his face as a fake slap, dumb sound effect and all. "That's abuse, I'm telling."
Cas suddenly looked sad, like he'd taken it completely seriously. "I'm sorry," his voice broke a little and Dean scrambled to take it back.
"No, no- that's not what I meant! It was a joke, I didn't-" He stopped when he saw the corner of Cas' mouth turn up deceitfully. "You little twerp."
Cas grinned, very clearly enjoying the sight of Dean fretting over him. Maybe too much. "Sorry, I couldn't help it." He admitted with an ambiguously bashful smile before going to the door with the key. Dean moved behind him and rubbed the base of Cas' wings, the first thing he noticed was a sharp squeal from his boyfriend. He felt Cas' muscle shudder under his touch and watched the wings curl in with a slight twitch.
"Oooh, ticklish?" Dean raised an eyebrow playfully as Cas swatted him away with the extra appendages.
"No, go away!" Cas succeeded in knocking Dean back and hurried into the suite. Dean was laughing as he entered, unable to catch Cas before the bathroom door shut.
"I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers!" He called and the response was the water running. Dean knew Cas wasn't actually upset, otherwise he would've probably already been grovelling at the closed door. Instead he dropped onto the nice bed and stared up at the ceiling, he could feel the way he'd sunk in a little bit and knew that it'd be an amazing night's sleep. He'd just have to wait for Cas to get out first, and then it'd be perfect.