Cass was pacing around anxiously when Dean returned. The moment he saw Dean, the dragon pounced. "Dean, where have you been? I've been waiting for you. You missed lunch."
"Um, no, I didn't miss lunch," Dean said, giving him a funny smile. "I just had a lunch date."
"A lunch date," Cass echoed. His shoulders slumped.
Dean didn't notice. "Yeah, she was with the bigwigs from this morning. Her name's Bella, and man!" his grin widened. "I don't know how much you can still appreciate a good pair of legs, but hers?" He whistled. "I already got approval to schedule my free time tomorrow so I can take her to the movie they're playing on base."
"You want to take her to a movie?" Cass grew very still. "So, you'll be here for supper tonight?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Dean sighed. "I really screwed myself with this schedule, getting locked up in here." He kicked irritably at the bars of the habitat, shaking his head in disgust. "Well, it's certainly better than what I'd have in the stockades, so I guess I won't complain."
Cass took a couple of wobbly steps back until he sat down heavily on the bed. "You don't want to be in here with me," he said, his voice monotone. "You want to go to the movies with a pretty girl."
Dean looked at him. "Dude, I don't care what they call this, ok? It's not a 'humanoid habitat,' it's a cage. Nobody wants to be locked in a cage. You being in here with me is the only good thing about it."
The dragon brightened. "It is?"
"Sure, buddy." Dean had finally noticed something was off about the dragon. He moved over and sat down next to Castiel, looking at him in concern. "Cass, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," Cass mumbled, not looking at him.
"Is it about the demonstration today?"
Cass shrugged. "I understand that the directors didn't want to see us do ground maneuvers."
"But that's not what's got you so upset," Dean observed. He chewed his lip, eyeing the dragon and thinking. Then he straightened. "It's my date, isn't it? Are you upset that I missed lunch with you?" When the dragon looked away, he sighed. "I get it. And I'm an asshole. Here I am, talking about dates and my free time when you're in here all the time unless you're training. It's bullshit, honestly." He slapped at the dragon's knee playfully. "I'll tell you what. Since you're mostly in this form anyway, how about I ask about taking you out into the base again? You need to start learning how to be around people anyway."
Castiel nodded energetically. "Then I could go on your dates with you," he declared happily.
Dean leaned back, raising his hands. "Whoa, there, cowboy!" he laughed. "Dates are kind of private."
"Private? You mean I can't go with you?" Once again, Castiel's face fell. "Why can't we go on a date?" he blurted.
Dean blinked. "Us on a date? Like, you and me, doing guy stuff?"
"Or date stuff," Castiel suggested hopefully. "You could take me to the movie? You could even kiss me!"
Dean's eyes went wide. "Um… Well, er…" He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes shifting rapidly. "What, exactly, brought that on?"
Castiel suddenly went still.
"Cass, come on, buddy, I won't be mad at you," Dean vowed. "Something happened today while I was out, didn't it?"
The dragon nodded.
Suddenly, Dean was concerned. Something had happened to Cass while he was away? That was something he couldn't ignore. "You can tell me," he urged. "Something's obviously on your mind. What's going on, buddy?"
"Well," Castiel hesitated, looked again at Dean, saw the worry in his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Ketch kissed me today," he blurted.
Dean froze, gaping at the dragon. "He did what now?!"
"He kissed me," Castiel repeated. "He said I was a beautiful, wonderful man."
"Oh." Dean didn't know what to say. That Castiel was beautiful was undeniable. But the innocent dragon was so childlike that even lying right next to him every night hadn't seemed sexual at all. That someone else might find Cass attractive enough to make a move on him wasn't something Dean was equipped to deal with. He cleared his throat and looked at Cass. "Ok, so he kissed you. Did you want him to kiss you?"
"I didn't expect it," Cass explained. "I wasn't sure how I felt about it. We talked about before, when I was just Jimmy Novak. I was attracted to you, Dean. I still am." He ducked his head, looking carefully at his bondmate. "I wasn't sure if I should tell you or not."
"That so?" Dean had an odd expression on his face. "So he talked to you about being attracted to me, and then he kissed you? Sounds like he was feeling out how you felt about other men."
Castiel nodded. "He said you never appreciated me the way he does."
Dean's face flushed. "That's not true at all!" he sputtered. "I mean, I never really thought much about you that way, but he's not wrong. You are a beautiful man."
"So you would like to kiss me?" Cass asked hopefully.
"Er…" Dean shifted uncomfortably. "Cass, listen. As far as gender goes, I can go either way. I'm bi. But you and I? Well, we're really good friends and I care about you a lot, but that's all the further it goes."
Castiel's hopes fell, his shoulders slumped. "So you don't want to kiss me?"
Dean couldn't bear to look into the sad blue eyes looking back at him. He rubbed at the back of his neck. "Um, not right now, no," he offered. "But let's go back to Ketch a minute. I'm really not happy about him taking advantage of you like that. You're a great guy and capable of making your own decisions, but…" He shook his head and forced himself to meet the dragon's gaze. "Jimmy, you blew your brains out all over the wall. I was there. I saw it happen, ok? Then they brought you straight here and you got swallowed and now you're here." He indicated Cass with his hands. "You look like a grown man. You have the memories of a grown man. But your mind, it's…" He licked his lips, searching for the right words.
"You don't think I can make a decision like this for myself," Castiel said quietly.
Dean took a deep breath. "I think that you need more time to figure out who you are and what you want. I think you've gone through a change that no one could possibly be prepared for. And I think Ketch should back the hell off of you until you decide what it is you do want."
"I know what I want," Cass said crossly. "But you don't want me."
"Cass, we're not dating. We're bondmates. Profound bond, remember?" He rolled up his sleeve. The mark of Castiel's hand had healed well. The imprint was clear in his flesh, dark against his skin until Dean pulled his sleeve back down. "If you were still Jimmy Novak, then yeah, I could see us maybe trying something eventually. But we'd need to be friends first."
Once again, the sad blue eyes were fixed on Dean. "You don't think we're friends?"
"Of course we're friends, but listen. You look like a man, but you're not, Cass. You're a dragon. I can't look at you and not see the dragon. And you're awesome, don't get me wrong," he said quickly as Castiel's face fell. "But you're not even fully grown yet. When your body and your mind mature, and you're not facing the prospect of fighting two of your nestmates? Well, then we can see what happens with you and me. But until then?" He shook his head. "You're not ready for that. I'm sorry, but you're not."
The pair sat in awkward silence. Dean had never regretted letting himself get talked into this cage so much as he did at this moment.
It was Castiel who finally broke the silence. "I understand," he said, his voice so low Dean had to strain to hear. "You're a young man. At your age, you're very keen on spending time with an attractive woman. That, to you, is more important than spending time with me, even after you tell me that you will."
Dean grimaced. "I didn't… That was…" He ground his teeth. "Ok, that does it. I'm calling Bella right now and canceling."
Cass gave him the head tilt squint he typically did when he was puzzled about something. "You're cancelling your date?"
"Damned right," Dean growled, already scrolling through his contacts. "Right now, you're my priority. Besides, bros before hos, right?"
"Dean, you're a good, attractive man," Cass offered. "You don't have to pay for a prostitute."
That made Dean laugh so hard he was still laughing when Bella answered. It didn't make her any less angry about having their date cancelled. Dean knew he was hot, but she was surprisingly insistent on him keeping their date or rescheduling. He finally got weirded out and told her not to contact him again before hanging up. Shit. She'd had a fine pair of legs. Oh well. Right now, Dean was far more worried about Cass. If Ketch was going to confuse Cass like this, then Dean needed to keep his eyes and ears open. No way was he going to let that horny bastard pull anything on his dragon.
"What do you mean, he cancelled?" Col. Stephens exclaimed. "Bella was exactly Winchester's type. She should have had him in the palm of her hand. We could have set the stage for multiple charges once they were alone with no witnesses. It was supposed to be easy!"
"I'm sorry, Sir," the aide told him. "Bella says he not only cancelled their date, he told her not to call him again. He must have sensed something was up."
With a growl, the colonel dismissed the aide. His hands shook as he picked up the phone and called the general. "Sir, we've got a problem. Our plan didn't work. Winchester smelled a rat."
"Really? I never would have pegged him for being able to do that," the general said. "Alright. Let's back off of him for now and continue with Lt. Ketch. What is the progress with Tapping's synthetic hormone?"
"She's hit a block," the colonel admitted. "There are several substances in the dragons' natural hormone that are currently unidentified. She's going to need more time."
"She doesn't have more time! The project directors signed off on our budget with the understanding that Ketch would have the beast in fighting form and ready to challenge Raphael by the end of the month!"
"He will," Stephens assured, sweat beading on his forehead. "Ketch is one of our best operatives and he's made great headway with the beast already. He reported that he believes the beast is responding to him, both as a training partner and now as a potential love interest. We'll have to keep Winchester in the picture for a bit longer than we'd hoped, but the plan will work."
"It had better," Thompson warned. "I'll have your career if this project fails. This is the last of the creatures. If we can't control it, we'll have no other choice than to just use it for target practice so we can learn the best way to take out the other monsters. That will cost me my star, and you your ass! Am I understood?"
"Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir."
When the line went dead, Stephens stared at the phone for a long moment before putting it down. He groaned, running his hands through his greying hair. They came away full of loose hairs. Great. This project was aging him before his time. With effort, the colonel gathered his thoughts, gaining a firm grip on his emotions. He picked up the phone again. "Lt. Ketch?" he began when it was answered. "We need to move ahead with our plans. It's time to get the dragon out of the humanoid habitat."
"So soon? As you wish," Ketch said. "If I may ask, did something happen?"
"Winchester is proving to be a far bigger pain in our collective ass than we anticipated," the colonel growled. "Just keep working on that dragon. We need it under control, or it's both of our asses."
"Understood. Leave it to me."
The colonel hung up and rubbed at his face again. Ketch would do the job. He had to. There was no other choice.
