Grey

Chapter 13

Sam sends him mournful, guilty looks when he thinks Dean isn't looking, as if he blames himself for Cas being crazy.  Dean can't deal with the idea of another teary heart to heart, but he forces himself to shoot down that stupid theory as they drive away from the hospital, leaving Cas with no one but Meg for protection.

"Cas knew what he was doing," he tells Sam. "He's the one that broke your wall. None of this is your fault. So enough with the puppydog eyes."

Sam sighs. "I still can't believe we're just leaving him there though. I mean, can we really trust Meg?"

Dean grits his teeth. Angry and confused as he is over Cas, he's not exactly ecstatic that he's been left in the tender friggin care of a demon. "We can't take him with us," he says. Sam shoots him a look and opens his mouth like he's gonna argue the point. Dean cuts him off. "We can angst over our shitty luck after we've taken down Dick Roman," he tells him. And boy, Dean's real fucking eager to nail that sonovabitch.

Sam sighs again, but nods his agreement.

Castiel and Meg are like, friends or something.

Dean doesn't like it. Doesn't like that Meg, a demon, the same demon that killed Pastor Jim, possessed Sam and set hellhounds on Ellen and Jo, is Cas's protector and keeper or whatever. Okay so he's got some... grudging respect for her, she's come through for them a few times, but he's got no illusions. She's a demon and she can't be trusted.

The last time he let down his guard around a demon, Ruby tricked Sam into releasing Lucifer. He's not making that same mistake again. So he watches carefully, hangs on her every word, waiting for the moment she shows her hand.

But all he notices is how Cas acts around her. He stands too close to her, right up in her space, like he used to stand too close to Dean. He comes when she calls. He smiles at her, soft almost human smiles, and calls her beautiful.

Dean tells himself Cas is insane, that it doesn't mean anything, but seeing his mate follow Meg around makes his insides twist in jealousy. It's worse than with Daphne. That 'Cas' hadn't remembered. This one does and crazy or not, he's choosing a demon over Dean.

Meg kisses him.

Dean sees her hands sliding under Cas's coat, looking for his sword, and he knows it's a distraction, but still. She's kissing his mate. He wants to rip her spine out. He starts forward instinctively, but Sam's got a hand on his arm, holding him back, and he remembers himself.

It isn't real, doesn't mean anything. Just Meg being a devious bitch and Cas being crazy.

Then Cas kisses her back.

There's nothing angelic and awkward about it at all. He pushes Meg up against a wall and frenches her like he wants her, like he's desperate for her, like he's going to sink his teeth into her neck and claim her for a mate. Dean can smell him, the thunderstorm scent of Cas thickening in the air around him. The long faded mark on his arm twitches like a phantom limb as he breathes in alpha and mate.

Meg seems bemused by the entire exchange, but her beta meatsuit gives off the flaring scent of arousal. It's acrid and catches in the back of Dean's throat like something burnt. He has to swallow down a growl, calm a primitive urge to yank Cas closer and rub himself all over him until he smells like Dean not Meg. His grip on Ruby's knife tightens. He wants to bury it in Meg's stomach. Cut her open like one of those souls in hell. Use all Alistair's tricks on her. Make it last hours -

- Sam's fingers dig into his wrist. Dean swallows and bites at the inside of his mouth.

Cas, despite his enduring weirdness ('I watch the bees Dean') seems like he is... maybe improving. He agrees to help them find the real Dick Roman and he's there at Dean's side as they track down and corner him. It feels right, like he is back where he belongs.