Nothing Left To Fear

13

"You need to eat," Cho says pushing the plate of stir fried vegetables across the table to where Dean sits scribbling into his journal. Castiel is sat on the bench beside him.

"No," Dean answers, "I need to find out who sold us out. Who knew we would be at that house?"

"Then do so whilst you eat." He pushes the plate again. "You will make Ellen worry."

"You use my fear of Ellen against me, don't you?"

Cho offers him that small half smile, that almost smile that plays at the corners of his mouth. "Shamelessly." He agrees. "If you eat that there is ice cream in the cooler."

"I'm not hungry." Dean says pushing the plate back, "I've got other things to worry about."

"You weren't hungry yesterday, you weren't hungry the day before, I recall we had an agreement, I would lace your tea with multivitamin tablets and you would give in if you hadn't eaten in three days." He tilts his head. "Today is day three, you must be starting to get weak, even if you aren't feeling faint yet. Now eat." He pushes the plate back across, "after day three it's the nutrition shakes and we all remember how you feel about those." Dean pulls a face but puts down his pen and lifts the fork. "Just as much as you can manage."

Cho doesn't tell the others about Dean's problem eating, he just fusses over him until he eats. He just smiles that almost smile and bullies him into submission.

Dean lifts a white doughy lump. "What is this?" he asks before he puts it in his mouth.

"Tofu," Cho answers through that serene smile.

"And you still want me to eat this?" Dean shakes his head but pops it into his mouth regardless. It's not like he's tasted food in years anyway. It all tastes like ash and sawdust, and tofu is no exception. "It better be healthy," he mumbles with a mouthful of food. "Who knew we would be there? that it would be us, I mean, Bobby and Campbell and Christian and me?"

"Why are you so sure it's a conspiracy and not just bad intel?" Cho pours himself a cup of tea from the pot on the table.

"You didn't hear it," Dean admits forking the food into his mouth but talking regardless. "It said Azazel, over and over again."

"Maybe she had friends in high places." Castiel says from the bench, he sits so still and silent it's easy to forget that he is there. "Maybe it's all a coincidence."

"I don't believe in coincidence," Dean answers, "someone sold us out. One Bruxa for information is manageable, twelve is a slaughter, they're not pack animals." He chews thoughtfully on a piece of carrot, "that means something was controlling them, something more powerful than they are, but Bruxa are high enough on the food chain as it is. Someone knew we'd be there, but didn't know that you would, or even counted on it to assess your strength."

"It's a big assumption, Dean, that there is a traitor."

"Everyone betrays," Castiel answers calmly, reaching out to Dean's plate to pluck a runner bean which he pops into his mouth and crunches between his teeth, "everyone can be gotten. The devil is the great deceiver and his emissaries are no less tricksome. I never trust a traitor, especially one I've made myself."

"I know." Dean answers, "and we have a traitor, we just need to figure out who."

"How do you know it wasn't me?" Cho asks, he is wearing that sweet serene smile like a mask.

"How did you lose your eye, Cho?" Dean asks in reply.

Neither of them answer the question.