The Bodyguard (is the Omega)

1.

It was just after new years. This part of the country, this time of year, everything was buried under a thick layer of snow. The young lawyer trudged through the knee deep drifts on foot, his car parked half a mile away where the road was still open. The house was a small wood log cabin but the greenhouse attached to it was enormous. Even through the frosted windows, Sam could see a paradise of colourful blooms glittering beneath the sunlit glass panes.

There was a man standing beneath the cool winter sun in the front garden, stripped down to a t-shirt, chopping wood. The ground shuddering with each stroke of his arms. Perspiration rising from his face and arms like white puffs of smoke. He wasn't as tall as Sam, or as broad as Sam's brother Dean, but his sharpened axe sliced through the thick wood like butter. His movement fast and precise. The tinder was cut into uniform pieces, as if machined. Sam stood still on the perimeter and waved until Castiel put down his axe and gestured for him to come forward.

Castiel was a solidly built man, lean and toned. Sam wondered what Dean would make of the naturally athletic omega with the serious blue eyes. Chances are, Dean would be smitten by his good looks. Dean was always a sucker for a masculine face and pretty eyes. Though Sam had known Castiel for over a decade, he had never had a chance to find out how Dean would react to Castiel. Dean was always so busy with his recording sessions and touring. In recent years more and more so than ever with the success of every new single came more isolation for Dean. It was as if fame and fortune had sucked Dean into a whole other world of publicists and managers. While non-showbiz people like Sam and Castiel lived outside that crazy bubble.

It had been some years since Sam and Castiel shared a dorm room in college at Stanford. Sam had kept in touch with Castiel since but their busy schedules meant that boiled down to a handful of catchups over a span of almost a decade. They might have grabbed a casual beer when Castiel was in between administrations. Maybe a game of pool when Sam was on a tour break. They had followed different career and life paths since graduation and those first few hectic years of working in Washington together. Back when Sam had been in training for the BAU and Castiel was already a field agent for the FBI. Fast forward ten years, Sam was working for Dean and Castiel was on a break from FBI fieldwork.

"I thought I was clear on the phone Sam, you shouldn't have come all this way. I don't fight anymore, I watch the bees," Castiel said after they hugged. "But it is good to see you old friend."

"I heard, I know," Sam said, offering the box carried gingerly in his hand. "But I came anyway. This is for you."

Castiel's eyes raked over the parcel. Sam knows he's honing in on all the details, the air vents, the bio-hazard tape, the little hexagon print over the cardboard.

"Came out of quarantine clearance this morning, imported from Australia. Hand propagated and raised on eucalyptus honey."

"How did you ..." Castiel looked impassive but the brightening light in his eyes informed Sam that he was impressed by the gift.

"Dean's private jet got it here before the queen could tire," Sam said. "Australian stingless bees, you can't harvest the hives from the bush so the beekeepers down under have to lure them with homemade hive boxes and it can take years to catch a wild swarm."

"I can't take that," Castiel said. "I'm not going to be bribed into guarding your brother. I've already said last time you called ..."

"I don't think Dean is going to want them back, he complained enough about having insects on his plane enroute. Not that Dean complaining on a flight is anything unusual. The man is a terrible flier. It's a nightmare when he tours internationally."

"As delightful as Dean sounds," Castiel shrugged taking over the box and carefully sitting it down on top of the pile of firewood he had chopped, sheltering it with his coat. "You know my answer."

"I wouldn't ask you if I wasn't desperate," Sam sat down on the woodpile, his head bowed. "Dean could have been killed in that explosion. And as it was the bomb put Anna in hospital for three months."

"You had Anna Milton working security for your brother?" Castiel was surprised. "She's extremely skilled and expensive."

"Dean needs top of the line security and I only want him to have the best," Sam said. "You know how good Anna is and she still got hurt. We're not just dealing with an average stalker here. Whoever is doing this, they are good. I haven't been able to replace Anna and she is in no fit state to come back. Dean has fired three bodyguards in the meantime. The current guy, Ketch, he's from a very reputable company but he's more of a mascot than a head of security. He's all about pleasing Dean and he has way too high an opinion of his own prowess."

"Have you tried the other freelance guys? I'm not the only one on a break from the Bureau," Castiel asked. "Gadreel, Hannah, Inias, they are all competent. And available."

"But they are not you, they don't have your sense."

Castiel rolled his eyes, swiping the sweat from his brow with a neatly folded handkerchief.  "Please don't treat my biology as a disability or a superpower."

"You know I respect your abilities," Sam said.

"I don't know much about your brother, pop music and movies from this decade aren't my thing," Castiel said. "But I do know Dean's an alpha. Working security for presidents is one thing, I'm part of a team. I can blend in with the crowds, no one notices an omega, it's good camouflage. If the asset I'm guarding is an alpha, I don't have to be up close and personal with them. But if I was to be the personal bodyguard of some huge alpha star, anyone who isn't a beta will know what I am. Dean will have to deal with that. It can get messy."

"Dean's different."

"He's not like the other alphas?" Castiel said blandly. "Is that what you were going to say?"

"Just meet with him, just once, see him with your own eyes, scent him with your own nose," Sam was near pleading now. "You know our dad was hopeless and Dean practically brought me up. He's got a foster kid. Jack's high functioning but he needs Dean's guidance. I love my brother, I can't lose him. Please Castiel, I wouldn't ask if I had anyone else I can trust."

Castiel looked at Sam. Wordlessly, he picked up the beehive and tilted his head towards the door.

"Come inside, you can have a hot drink while I get the hive settled in the greenhouse," Castiel said. "I'm not promising I'll take the job but I will go see your brother. I'll take a look at the house and see if there are any issues with the current security arrangements. Maybe if Dean's available, I'll say hello. Would that make you feel better?"

"Thank you Castiel, honestly that's a big relief," Sam said gratefully. "You'll like Dean. I promise."

"I like the look of her," Castiel was peeping through a hole in the hive box. "You are a stunning queen."

Sam went to fix himself a coffee to drink while Castiel disappeared into the greenhouse to fuss with the bees. He was going to have to call Dean when he got back to his car about Castiel. Dean was not going to like this.