better man/worse than nicotine » arthur ketch

twenty: she is different.

A/N: Apologies in advance for me being absolute shit at writing Cas

Dean walks into the map room, finding his brother bent over the table, staring at one specific date – May 18th.

            "Woah," Dean almost snickers, but can't bring himself to. The math Sam has laid out in front of him is more complex than Dean has ever seen him do. "What's up, Beautiful Mind?"

            It's obvious Sam didn't sleep, so Dean doesn't need to mention it. And neither does Sam.

            "Guess I just figured we can't exactly track Dagon, so I've been reading up on Nephilims, trying to figure out how much time we have before—"

            "Lil' Lucifer pops," Dean adds, leaning down to study the math.

            "Yeah." Sam nods. "Okay, so we know Kelly got pregnant sometime in early December. According to the Lore, Nephilim don't need nine months to get to full term, so I think she will be giving birth around May 18th." Sam taps the pen on the date. "Which means..."

            "We have less than a month to find her," Dean sighs.

            "Yeah, and exactly no idea where to start."

            "Okay, but even if we do find her, what then?"

            "I don't know," Sam breathes. "I mean, I—"

Sam is cut off by the bunker door opening at the top of the spiral stairs. Both men stop and look, Dean's hand ready to pull out his gun, only to find Castiel stepping inside.

"Cas..." Sam furrows his eyebrows. "You're alright. Where have you been?"

"Let me rephrase that for Sam," Dean begins, clearly the more pissed off of the two brothers – though recent events haven't helped his temper any. "Where the hell have you been? And why have you ignored our phone calls?"

"Where I was – reception was poor."

"No bars?" Dean scoffs. "No bars, that's his excuse. Wow."

"I was in Heaven. I was working with the angels." Cas pauses, but neither Winchester in the room looks overjoyed. "When I saw Dagon captured Kelly, I-I thought they could help."

"And?" Sam asks, hopefulness in his tone.

Cas shakes his head sadly. "Nothing."

"Well, at least you're back," Sam chuckles. "We're glad you're back."

Dean stares at his brother incredulously. "Really?" He pauses. "No, I'm sorry. Okay, 'cause while you were striking out in Heaven, we had a shot at Dagon. And we lost."

Cas nods. "I know. I...received your messages."

"Oh, you did – you did receive the messages? Okay, that's good."

"Dean," Sam tries, but Dean doesn't hear him.

"So not only were you ditching us, but you were also ignoring us? That's great. 'Cause we really could've used the backup. But, uh, you were too busy with um...What was it? Nothing?"

"Dean—" This time it's Cas, but again, Dean doesn't hear.

"What the hell is wrong with you, man?" Cas doesn't have an answer. "You know, whatever. That's... Welcome back."

Dean pushes his way past the angel, down to the hallway. Sam shakes his head, offering Cas a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry, Cas, he's—I don't think he's really mad at you."

Cas gives Sam a look that says he doesn't believe on bit of that.

And because Sam has no one else to tell, and because he thinks Cas should know, he starts talking.

"He's been really messed up with the...Dagon stuff and losing Joy."

The mention of Joy immediately gains Cas's attention. "What?"

Sam chuckles. "She's um...with Ketch."

Cas raises an eyebrow. "Arthur Ketch?"

Sam nods. "Yeah, him. We found that she's been seeing him and confronted her and Dean blew up and she left. She's probably with him, but we don't know where. She must've turned off her phone as soon as she left."

"But you know where the British Men of Letters' base is."

"She could be there, or she could be at their hotel, or she could be in a different state by now on a hunt with him, there— We have no way to know."

"I can't sense her..." Cas trails away, looking down as he tries harder to focus, but that doesn't help.

Sam's eyes widen. "I thought you could only sense Dean?"

Cas nods. "I can sense all of you. But she is different."

"Different how?"

"It's a long story. One I'm afraid you'll be upset I didn't tell earlier."

"Cas!"

"I'll explain, to both of you, after Dean calms down," he replies, giving Sam a look. "But until then, it might be in your interest to know where your sister is."