Savin' Me

Chapter 15

Three weeks later

Things had calmed down as much as they possibly could have over the next few weeks. Since Allison had punched Dean the man had backed down, if anything he ignored her presence entirely. Alli didn't seem to mind and neither did anyone else. If that meant one less fight and one less wound to tend to, it was fine. By the end of the second week Allison was finally on the mend. She didn't need painkillers or antibiotics. Once Lisa gave her the okay she spent more and more time outside of the little cabin. Chuck had enlisted her to help in the kitchen. Since everyone, or mostly everyone contributed to keeping the camp up and running. Allison never complained – well not too much and certainly not to Chucks face.

When she wasn't in the kitchen she was usually by Lisa's side, wherever that may be. On occasion she'd come by the" Den of Iniquity" as she'd so lovingly named it. She usually timed it so she came in halfway through his speech. She'd sit in the corner and watch silently. Her presence made the other women uncomfortable and it also threw Castiel himself off. Those sessions ended differently from the others. Generally no sex was had when Allison entered her cabin. It played out like this every few days. She would sit there and watch. Castiel swore that on the inside she was laughing. Having Allison there was well, awkward. He didn't confront her about it even though he wanted to. It actually never came up once.

The two still shared his cabin. Castiel spent most nights on the floor while Allison took the bed. She offered to switch places since it was after all, his bed. Castiel declined every time. After about a week she stopped asking. That didn't mean that Allison was quiet though. In three weeks he'd learned most of her life story. They talked till they fell asleep. Or at least Allison talked till she fell asleep. Cas listened for the most part. One constant point of discussion was Brad. According to Allison, she was going to leave the camp to find him. Every time she mentioned her brother's name, Castiel tried to change the subject. When he heard about Brad his mind went back to the picture and what Dean had told him the day after they'd returned. She seemed convinced that somewhere Brad was alive and looking for her. He couldn't bring himself to recount the events that she clearly didn't remember. Aside from that minor bump everything was fine in their little corner of hell.

"No, I'm saying that I can't go. You can't take both of us. Do you really want to leave Chuck in charge of the wholecamp?" Lisa planted her hands on her hips, venomous gaze focused on Dean.

They'd been doing this for about an hour. First was planning, then the argument. Dean had planned a rather prompt trip. Back to the warehouse area and the small housing district behind it. The area that should have been covered already. When he'd shot Allison they hadn't had much time to sweep the area. Lisa had been on board so screwing around hadn't been an option; Allison had instantly become their one and only priority. They hadn't exactly met their supply quota at the warehouse and when Dean and the crew cleaned out an area, nothing was left unturned. It had already been decided that they were going, but they needed another person capable of shooting things. As usual Castiel had already been recruited – there was rarely an excursion that he didn't go on. Lisa wasn't a frequent flier in that category, because as she was attempting to point out, someone had to hold down the fort.

Cas tilted the old wooden chair back, rolling his eyes as the two battled it out in front of him. Lisa was right. Chuck was a good guy, but the kitchen and storage cellars were his domain and he was fine with that. The camp was like a rag-tag kingdom, of which Dean was the ruler. Lisa was like the unhappy queen that had been forced into marriage. If she said that she wasn't going, and she'd said it many times in the last twenty minutes, then she wasn't going.

The problem with that was Dean required a certain number of people for these excursions. For a quick run he only needed five or so people. Anything longer and he wanted seven at least. With Lisa out they were at six.

Six wasn't good enough.

Dean stood his ground. His arms crossed defensively over top of his chest. "What do you suggest then Lisa? I'm all ears." The fakest smile Castiel had ever seen pasted itself onto Dean's face.

He'd been thinking about this himself. He wasn't sure if he had the answer but he sure as hell had a suggestion. "I hate to interrupt these intimate conversations that you two have. I'm going to give you advice. You should take it. Allison spent two years with a hun-"

"No." Dean was quick to cut in.

"As I was saying, two years with a hunter. She knows how to shoot. All the men have their jobs to do. Do you want to take one of your girls instead ? If so, I would personally love to see the former exotic dancer kill a few Croats." Castiel arched a questioning eyebrow. Of course, he had to thrown in the remark about Dean's type. It was only fair since he hadn't quite gotten the man back for calling his women hippies.

"Are you freakin' kidding me? You want to take her?" As expected, Dean looked completely repulsed by the idea.

As he had hoped, Lisa stepped in. "It's not a bad idea. She's healed enough, not like you're going to a hot zone. We didn't run into anything last time. The place was a ghost town."

Anyone that knew Dean could likely make an accurate guess as to what was on his mind. The camp needed supplies and he needed people for back up, just in case. IT wasn't a game, he went prepared or he didn't go at all. Dean was thinking about it, Cas could tell.

"You'd better keep a friggin' leash on her. She screws up and she gets left there. Got it?"

Cas tried his best to hide the smirk but he couldn't quite pull it off. It had been strangely painless. Dean came full circle and back to the side of the table. Dark eyes starring down at the map. "We're leaving by ten. She stays with you." That was the end of the meeting. Now everyone had roughly an hour or so to get ready.

He didn't think that he'd have too much trouble. For days Allison had been complaining about the fact that she couldn't just leave. She'd wanted to go look for Brad. No matter how safe or comfortable she was here, it didn't matter because she believed that Brad was out there somewhere. He'd taken into account the fact that there was a chance they'd re-visit the warehouse and possibly stumble across the body, assuming Croats hadn't already gotten to it – but he could try to steer her away. Allison didn't seem to remember any of the ordeal anyways. The shock had probably done her in. According to Dean, they had already taken care of most of the warehouse. It was already clear that he'd have to keep a tight, figurative leash on her. Any other person and he would have almost been repulsed at the idea of babysitting. Those days faded away with his powers; but this was Allison. She was amusing and intelligent – not to mention attractive. She didn't seem to hate him as much as she hated Dean. Dare he think it, but over the past few weeks they had almost become friends. They talked and mocked each other, she messed with his 'teaching' schedule and he listened to her life story. She hadn't punched him yet so he could only assume that was a good thing.

Or she just had an amazing poker face.

Castiel forced himself out of the chair and towards the door, leaving Dean and Lisa to their own devices. He had work to do. It wasn't likely to be strenuous, but work all the same.