Dean quickly discovered the downsides of having the dog in the car, aside from the obvious hair in his precious baby.

Castiel couldn't stand Dean's offkey singing. Sam had become immune to it through din of being forced to listen to it for years...he could zone it out. However Cas would start howling like the damned until Sam turned off whatever cassette Dean was singing to and Dean shut up. Then he would give his owner a betrayed look like 'why would you force me to endure that?'.

Sam found it funny as hell, but Dean hadn't.

To which Sam's flippant reply was that Dean should be grateful that none of the places they usually went to eat served tofu.

Dean had looked rather grossed out at the idea of the fake meat for dinner, but wasn't surprised Sam had tried it once.


Any and all complaints about Sam's dog went right out the window the second he found out it was a trained hunting dog. The White Lady that their father had left so abruptly to try and find the demon that killed their mother had actually backed away from Cas. The dog had growled rather menacingly and actually forced her to back off when she tried to strangle Sam in the car.

"Sammy?" said Dean once he was sure his car was alright from Sam ramming it into the house.

"Yeah Dean?"

"I take back any complaints about that dog," said Dean.

Sam chuckled.

"There's a reason I shelled out two hundred to the local police Christmas fund to have Cas fully trained," said Sam.

"So that's how you got him to lick me!" said Dean accusingly. Sam snorted, but did not deny it.


Sam was not looking forward to returning to his apartment. On the plus side, he didn't have to see his girlfriend pinned to the ceiling with fire destroying his apartment like the first time.

"Dammit Sammy, get this dog out of the car."

"Dean, just leave him be. It's not like you're leaving until tomorrow anyway," said Sam rolling his eyes.

Dean growled, but nothing he could do would move the fifty pound dog from his spot in the back seat. Every time he tried to pick the hound up, it would growl at him.

Sam usually just patted his lap and Cas would become an instant lap dog. He rarely if ever picked him up unless they needed to visit the vet.

Dean was annoyed, but it did give him an excuse to visit Sam before he left.

Sam sighed as he entered his apartment. Then his nose caught the scent of something that had him freezing in his tracks.

Sulfur.

He immediately grabbed his bat, which despite it's appearances had been covered in salt that had been dissolved in holy water and was made entirely of iron.

He was still trying to get holy oil, but it was a pain in the ass getting it through customs. At this point he was going to wait until he could get Bobby's help, since he couldn't find the recipe for the damn thing.

At least then he would be prepared to fry a couple of angels for the hell they had put him through and because most of them were just plain assholes. Lucifer being at the top of that list (though Zachariah made a very, very close second).

Sam went through each room, taking his time. Eventually he made it into the one that he had avoided for good reason.

His bedroom.

His eyes immediately went up to the ceiling. And his heart nearly stopped from shock.

Why the hell was Jessica on the ceiling?! He had avoided her to avoid this damn scenario from the start!

The second his eyes saw her, the blaze started.

"Sam!"

Castiel was barking like mad, and they barely made it out of the apartment before the fire really took off.

"Sam, are you alright?" asked Dean. Cas was not leaving his owner's side.

"What was she doing in my apartment?!" said Sam, still in shock.

"What?"

"Why was she in my room? I made sure to lock the door before I left," said Sam, starting to calm down with Cas' calm presence.

"Sam Winchester? We would like a word with you," said the cop.

"Cas, stay," said Sam. Castiel whined, but he stayed put with Dean.


"Sorry we have to do this Sam. Where were you for the past two days?"

"My brother Dean came asking me out for help. I left a note on my door and even warned my friends I would be out for a few days before I left. Hell, I triple checked to make sure the stove and everything was turned off before we went!"

"Do you know Jessica Sanders?"

"Only vaguely. My friends had been trying for months to set me up with her, but I decided to get Cas instead," said Sam confused.

That was the one thing that bugged him the most. Why the hell had Jessica been in his apartment? He had locked the door and all the windows.

"So you have no idea how Ms. Sanders got into your apartment, let alone why we had to pull her from the ceiling?" repeated the detective.

"I locked my apartment up and took Cas with me. I have no clue why she was even there when I never gave her a key to my apartment," said Sam.

"It says here that one Terrance Hayes has a key."

"Jake has one too, in case of an emergency so he can get Cas out," said Sam, wondering what that had to do with anything.

Another officer came in, and spoke in a low tone.

By all accounts Sam had been unavailable for three full days and had already warned his friends he would be out of town for at least four. And when the fire department finally put out the blaze, they were baffled to find that it started on the ceiling directly under where Jessica Sanders had been.

Eventually it was chalked up to an electrical fire, though they were just as baffled as to why she had been in Sam's apartment, or how she had been pinned to the ceiling.

Dean was waiting patiently with a rather twitchy Castiel the dog while Sam was interrogated by the cops. At least the dog was behaving.

"Well?"

"They haven't the faintest clue as to why the hell Jessica was in my apartment, let alone why the fire just happened to start right where she was pinned. Fortunately because I was out of town and she didn't have a key I'm not being blamed. I don't know how the hell I'm going to get my deposit back now though," said Sam irritably.

"Why'd you have the bat with you?" asked Dean. That had been the first thing he noticed, right after he registered the soon-to-be dead chick on the ceiling.

"I smelled sulfur," muttered Sam.

"What?" said Dean sharply.

"I closed the door and immediately smelled rotten eggs. I knew the stove was off so I grabbed my iron bat instead. The bedroom was the last place I hit and that's when I saw her," said Sam. He was exhausted. This entire experience had been incredibly draining.

At least this time around he hadn't had to suffer the emotional trauma of seeing a girl he had been fully prepared to marry die. This time she was just another random victim of the crap he had to deal with because he was a hunter.

Maybe when the Witnesses rose again he would find out why she had been in his apartment when she never had a key to begin with.


Dean had been surprised when he found out Sam had already graduated college, but he had been debating on a second go, this time for a law degree. The interview he had was to determine if he could handle the strain of those extra years, since he had a bachelor degree in mythology.

After losing his apartment (and unfortunately the deposit, despite the fact that it had been proven he had nothing to do with the fire) Sam decided to return to traveling with Dean again. Just with a furry addition to the team.

However there was one thing that worried Dean that he had seen in Sam's bag.

"Sammy?"

"Hmm?"

"Why do you have prescription pills?" said Dean, holding up a bottle with Sam's name on it. It had a few refills left.

Sam winced. He had hoped Dean wouldn't notice those.

"It's just anti-depressants. And I never take them with alcohol," said Sam defensively.

Sam was not about to explain about his memories of being Lucifer's meat suit. He needed those pills to keep from going off the deep end and trying to change things too fast.

Having Castiel had helped a great deal as well. It gave him something to put his focus on rather than the knowledge of what was to come. Besides, the dog really reminded him of a canine Cas.

Castiel, the only angel he would ever trust, because had never held Sam's demon blood addiction against him personally. Sure he had that weird habit of getting into those intense staring contests with his brother, but Sam actually thought Cas would have been good for Dean.

"Sammy..." said Dean in a tone that gave Sam a bad feeling. Dean was definitely going to be like Cas on a bone now that he had found this.

"It's fine Dean. The biggest issue is refilling it once the prescription runs out," said Sam.

It had been hell getting it in the first place. He was not looking forward to getting that prescription without a stable home address.

At this point he was perfectly willing to use Bobby's house as his primary residence to keep that filled. The real problem was getting to the doctor's office long enough to keep Dean off his ass.

"What the hell has you so depressed that you need pills?" asked Dean finally. He had limited knowledge of prescriptions, but he knew enough that what Sam was on was some pretty strong stuff.

Sam refused to say what he needed them for. All he knew was that they made him less suicidal, and that combined with Cas' presence he was less likely to do something monumentally stupid.

Like trusting Ruby.

"You're not going to go all kamikaze on me, are you?" asked Dean suspiciously.

"That's what the pills and the dog are for," snorted Sam.

Dean had to do a doubletake at Sam's flippant reply. Mostly because Sam had just answered his unspoken question that something was bugging him so much he had to get medication to deal with it. Because of their history Dean chose to drop his next question, which was less of a question and more of a demand as to what the hell had happened to his brother to need that kind of help.

However it did make bearing with Castiel the dog's presence a little more easier knowing Sam did have a valid reason for owning such a large hound.


Zachariah was impatiently awaiting Castiel's report.

"Well?" he said, once the lower angel appeared.

"Aside from suddenly needing medication to deal with depression, and a fierce desire to avoid any human contact that would involve relationships shortly before my arrival, I saw nothing out of the ordinary," said Castiel calmly.

His vessel, which happened to be the same dog Sam had taken in, was currently sleeping off a massive dinner. He had been very surprised when Sam named the hound after him. However it was the absolute trust the man had towards his dog and the affection whenever he said the name 'Cas' that kept him from mentioning it to Zachariah.

Like Sam knew of him and had actual trust in him.

"Do I look like I care as to his relationships or mental state?" growled the seraph, "What else?"

"His studies were exclusively geared towards mythology and he has developed an interest in running and hand-to-hand combat," said Castiel. He wasn't sure what Zachariah was after.

"Enough! Clearly you're absolutely useless," snarled Zachariah.

Something was up with the youngest Winchester, and he was determined to find out what.

Castiel was dismissed, but rather than stick around in heaven, he opted to retrieve his sword from Barachiel instead. That accomplished, Castiel went back into his canine vessel rather than have to listen to Zachariah's complaining about how useless he was.

If he had to chose between staying in heaven with a bitchy seraph and spending more time with the Winchesters, he would chose Sam and Dean every time.