I'm back! It's been around a month, so I figured I'd get you guys another chapter. It's also around 2,500 words—I just like to make up for lost time, you know? :)

Just a friendly reminder that " xxx " is a POV shift while " ... " signifies a time change.

Favorite/Review/Follow if you enjoy it—even review if you didn't like something! Constructive criticism is always welcome. Let me know what you enjoyed and maybe even what you'd like to see in the future. Though I mostly have planned out what is to happen, ideas can always help inspire me!

Enjoy~

Chapter 8: Secrets, Secrets, and More Secrets

It was the next morning and I awoke from the same couch again. This time, though, I noticed the TV was on and Crowley was asleep on the armchair next to the couch. He put in a few movies to show me since I've apparently missed out on a lot of wonderful things, and I guessed we fell asleep in the middle of Queen of the Damned (it was on the startup menu), though Crowley deemed it one of his favorite. I guess we just got too tired.

I looked over at my watch that was resting on the coffee table to check the time. Eight-thirty A.M. I wasn't sure when exactly Crowley decided we were to start investigating more intensely, but decided to wait for him to wake by himself. While I waited, I found Growley on his doggy bed and petted him for a while.

Not too long later, Crowley's phone started to vibrate from the end table next to the armchair. I waited a few seconds to see if Crowley woke up, but after noticing him still lost in sleep, I walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. No use. I looked over at his phone and the name Meg was plastered on the screen. The phone stopped ringing for a few seconds and then started again. Seems important, I thought to myself as I tried to figure out another way to wake up Crowley.

"Crowley," I spoke softly, not sure if loud sounds would startle him—and then I realized, Wait. Why am I worrying about that? I then spoke his name a bit louder and shook him by the shoulders.

His eyelids fluttered open and he stared at me, a bit confused. "Why, Cas, this is so sudden—" but his joke was interrupted when I let go of him and he saw me point to the phone with my eyes. "Oh?" he mused as he picked up the phone. "Megan, sweetie. Anything wrong?'

"Meg, sweetie, to you," I heard the voice on the other line speak sarcastically, but in a happy tone.

"I find Megan suits you," Crowley smiled.

"Save it for later, you romantic. So, let's cut to the chase, shall we? Word on the street is you are searching for Bela. I thought sicking the hounds on her was all you wanted and needed. Starting to play dangerous, hmm?"

"What's in it for you to know?" he seemed to not be amused with where the conversation was going. He also signaled for me to sit down while he put the phone on speaker—also signaling with his free finger over his lips for me to keep quiet.

"I may or may not want to help. You're not the only one Bela screwed over, gorgeous."

"You sure about that? Siding with me would probably bring you some trouble. I'm sure Bela is going to send some problems my way sooner or later."

"Yeah, well, no one said a thief's life is easy. I think I have good information to help you, too. What comes to me is my problem—nobody else's. You just worry your pretty head over whether you want this information or not, and information to come."

"It depends on the information," Crowley kept his cool and almost seemed uninterested in getting a lead from someone other than himself. I leaned my elbows on my knees and my chin on my hands, awaiting Meg's reply.

Meg cackled and I could sense a grin plastered on her face. "You don't even know. Apparently, I may or may not know that Bela isn't entirely freelancing it all off."

"What, that woman would be working for someone? Isn't that exactly what she said she hated most?" Crowley's eyebrows raised in interest; "How would you may or may not know this?"

"I have my ways. And this isn't the only juicy information I have, either. But, I will only give the rest to you if you accept me into your little team with that Mr. Clarence guy, who—I'm assuming—is with you right now." Her voice was confident.

I looked over at Crowley, surprised at her guess, but he waved his hand, which told me to ignore her remark.

"All right, you lovely snitch, you're in. I'll have you know, though, that if you mess up anything—and I mean anything—you are going to wish you hadn't called. You understand?"

"Of course; you can count on me, chief. Want to set up a nice date between me, you and your handsome friend?" Another laugh emanated from the phone.

"How about right now?"

"You make me all warm and fuzzy inside, wanting to see me right away," Meg joked smoothly. "Where at?"

"Seeing as I just woke up with this call, why don't we relax at a café for some coffee?" Crowley then gave her the address and they both bid adieu.

"We're not meeting up at the usual place?" I asked as I reached over to grab my shoes.

"I don't want any nosey good-for-nothings eavesdropping. Of course we'll need to be careful at a public place, but I feel that is a lot safer," he patted me on the back and walked off into his room, probably to change into another outfit. I sighed as I looked down and realized I was still in my cop uniform.

"Crowley!" I shouted from across the room, "We need to go to my place—I'm still in my uniform," I laughed nervously and waited for his reply.

"Of course. Remember, Meg believes you are a thief. Can't blow that cover now," he replied as he walked back out, brushing his shoulders.

"All right. I'm good. Ready?"

xxx

"Dean. Dean! Hey, hey, hey!"

A bright light flooded the room and interrupted the nice darkness that was surrounding my eyelids. I groaned and sat up, rubbing my eyes. "Time to wake up already?" The motel door then closed.

"Yep. I got us some coffee and breakfast—pie for you. Here."

"Aw, Sammy, you know just how to wake up a man," I laughed as I caught the pie that my baby brother threw at me after rolling his eyes. "Apple pie, mmm."

"C'mon, it'll be questioning time soon. I need the two of us to be as awake as ever if we want to catch this guy," he sat down on his bed and took out a bagel for himself from the bag. "By the way, you should try calling Castiel again," he suggested.

"Hm. I will. After I am finished with this bee-you-ti-ful pie," I quickly opened the packaged and hungrily dug into the beauty.

After quickly devouring our meals, I tried calling Castiel. "Any luck?" Sammy asked after I dropped my phone on the bed and sighed.

"Nope. Nada. Didn't pick up or nothing. Probably still sleeping, I guess? I don't think he said he was working today, unless he got called in like yesterday?" I thought aloud.

"Worth a try to find him at the station. Good way to start asking about Crowley and Bela, even if he's not there," he shrugged and stood up, readying himself to start leaving.

"I suppose so," I shrugged as well and put my phone in my pocket. "I also left a voicemail asking for him to call back. The sheriff assigned him on this case, so I think we should keep him updated on what we do and find, too."

"Sounds fair. Ready to go?"

"Yep. We're gonna find this sonuvabitch of a thief, I swear to god or my name isn't Dean Winchester."

…

To our not-surprise, Officer Castiel was nowhere to be found at the station. We didn't really find any extra information that we didn't already know, so we were still practically at ground zero.

"So, you want to see if we can get ahold of Castiel now that it is a few hours later?" Sammy asked me as we walked out of the station.

"Yeah, sure," I squinted away from the sun and pulled out my phone, dialing his number again. It rang a few times, and finally there was a voice on the other line.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Castiel. Finally decided to wake up from your beauty sleep?" I scratched the tip of my nose as I spoke.

"Oh, sorry, I was sleeping and then took—"

"It's okay, no need for any excuses," I forced out a chuckle and put my free hand in my pocket. "Anyway," I continued, "Are you, uh, busy right now?"

"…Why?"

I looked over at Sam, who tilted his head to the side in question. I put up my index finger, telling him to wait.

"Sam and I just got out of the Police Department and got squat. We figured you might have gotten some information when you were going solo last night? We know that there are two strong suspects of the case—a Bela and a Crowley. You were the cop that arrested Crowley?"

"Uh, hold on," he replied with a bunch of rustling and an "excuse me, I need to take this call for a second." I could also hear multiple voices in the background. I raised my eyebrows and balanced on my heels for a second while I waited for him to come back to the phone.

"Sorry, I can speak now—"

"You're with some friends or something?"

"I… Guess you could say that," he spoke quickly.

"Anyway—As I was saying! You were the cop who arrested Crowley, yeah?" I then moved my head to signal Sam that we should continue walking.

"Yes, I was. He was wrongly accused and so we let him go. No proof against him—he said he was just trying to find the culprit and so we told him that he should be more careful next time and confide in the police more than anything," he replied a bit uneasily.

"And about Bela?"

"We were tipped off about her being a prime suspect. We looked into her more and saw that she had multiple crimes and multiple identities. Practically, everything fit nicely with her name—uh, names."

I had the volume on my phone up as much as possible so Sammy could listen in on the conversation, and he seemed interested to say the least.

"Okay, so… She's probably our guy—er, girl?"

"Maybe, maybe not. The police is chasing her after the jewelry predicament; it doesn't mean she's behind the theft at the museum."

"But it's incredibly possible?" Sammy interjected.

"Oh—hello, Sam. And yes, it's very possible. But from what you two told me yesterday, you're searching for the Thief of Hell and figure he—or she—is behind the disappearance of the ancient bone? You'd then assume that this person would be Bela," he added.

"Or that Crowley that you found in the middle of those thieves. Can't cross him off the list," I made sure to add myself.

"Ah—yes, uh, I assume so. But if you look at his records, there is nothing against the law, whereas Bela—"

I interrupted him, "Yeah, we get that. Can't rule him out, though. So, can you meet up with us for some researching?" There was silence for a while.

"Later today; is that okay? I'm in the middle of something important right now—not that this isn't important either, but…" His voice trailed off.

I rubbed my forehead in a bit of frustration, but Sam put a hand on my shoulder, which told me to agree with it.

"We didn't arrange a meeting today—let him finish with his plans. It would be rude for him to leave like this," he whispered to me. Ah, Sammy—the sympathetic and caring angel on my shoulder that tells me not to be too harsh or just a dick in general.

"Okay, what time is good for you?" I tried to speak in a nicer tone.

"At four in the afternoon?" I could sense some relief in his voice.

I nodded even though he wouldn't be able to see it, as well as smiled, "Yeah, that could work. Meet up at the station, then. See you there," and with that, I hung up before he could say bye.

"Dean, you gotta realize that you can't treat people like this and expect them to roll it off their shoulders like I do," Sammy shook his head with a smile on his face.

"What are you talking about? Everyone loves me. I'm adorable," I pursed my lips while turning towards my gigantore of a little brother, pretending to lean forward and kiss him on the cheek.

"Get your adorable face away from me. Gross," he pushed me away and laughed like the cute dork he is. Sometimes I forget that the two of us are tough and stern bounty hunters.

xxx

"Who is he talking to?" Meg asked, curiosity gleaming in her eyes as she watched Cassie rather suspiciously. I looked behind me to get a look myself, and he seemed to be a bit nervous for some reason.

We were at the outer-part of the café when Castiel's phone went off and he scampered off like a frightened sheep.

"I have no idea, love," I retorted as I felt some curiosity creep up on me, too.

"Your friend seems entirely reserved and he keeps to himself a lot," Meg added while leaning her cheek on her left hand and played with the straw of her drink absently.

"Yes, a bit," I said as I continued watching him. "I was able to get passed some of that, though. You know, with my charm and skill." I then winked at her and turned back to face her once Cas started waltzing back from his call.

"Sorry, it was from the station," Cassie murmured softly to only me as he sat back down in his seat.

"Hey, secrets? Really?" Meg crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat.

"Oh, I apologize; I didn't mean to… I am just used to being… discreet," he tried to cover it up and got a sassy "mmm" from Meg in response. "I was just saying that I am needed to help out my family—uh, my nephew needs a babysitter," was the best excuse that he could come up with, and I must admit that it was rather cute.

"Taking care of your family; how sweet." I wasn't sure if Meg was impressed or sarcastic. Heh, probably the former, though, since she seemed to fancy Cassie.

Cas smiled awkwardly and I could tell he was trying to figure out a way to change the subject. Fortunately, me being his savior, I already knew how to do so.

I cleared my throat to break the silence. "So, tell us about the extra information you have. And, I think it would be wise to let us know your sources." I could see that Meg didn't seem too keen on my request.

"What, you don't believe me or something? What does a girl have to do to prove herself, Crowley?" She leaned forward and kept her eyes fixed on me, a smirk slowly appearing. She looked at her hands for a few seconds while adding: "Be assured that I don't get information from just anyone. Don't worry, I'm not trying to screw you two over. You're the nicer bunch of the assholes. No offense." She turned to Cas and placed a hand on his shoulder with a laugh.

Castiel chuckled slightly, but was far more bewildered than anything. "I think we can believe her, Crowley," he tried to say smoothly but I could tell he was still nervous. Poor, adorable lad.

I sighed slightly, being a bit persuaded by Cas and his jumpiness. "All right. For now. If you give us any reason to doubt you, though—"

"You'll kick me out, yeah, I get ya, Crowley," she rolled her eyes, "How about we talk some business now, instead of this chit-chat? Shall we?"