Wanted

Chapter 22

Next time Dean drops a line, it's a week later, and it takes days for him to finally get a call. When he does, he doesn't recognize the voice, but it sure as hell isn't Cas.

"Where is he?" Dean demands. What is this bullshit? He's already made it very clear he only wants to talk to Castiel.

"Not important."

Dean scoffs. "I think it's kinda important. Is he okay?"

"What do you want?"

"I want to talk to Cas," Dean says.

"That's not an option."

"Then I'm gonna start dropping bodies every day until it is," Dean snaps, then throws his phone at a wall. What the fuck is this?

~~

"Cas?"

"What do you want?"

"You're not Cas," Dean says. "I told you I want to speak to Cas."

"Agent Novak is no longer on this case," the new officer says, which sparks of pang of hope in Dean. He just got pulled again. Dean will just have to get him back. Cas will be thrilled with him. "If you'd like to speak to him, you go to any police station."

"And turn myself in," Dean finishes. "Not a chance in hell. You have one more chance, or I will start dropping bodies daily."

~~

"Cas?"

"The fuck do you want?"

Dean lets out a quiet gasp before he can stop himself. That's him. That's really him.

But he's angry.

"I'm sorry," Dean says. He's not used to apologizing, but for Cas, he will.

"No, you're not," Castiel snaps. "You're not fucking sorry. You've never been fucking sorry. That's who you are."

"Cas —"

"Stop fucking calling me that," Castiel says, practically yelling. "You can't try to kill my fucking sister and then keep using nicknames like we're best fucking friends."

His sister.

That was his sister.

God, he's in trouble.

"I didn't realize," Dean says.

"That doesn't fucking matter," Castiel snaps. "Because if it wasn't me sleeping in hospital chairs for days, it would be a different family at a fucking funeral. This is what you do, okay?" His voice breaks as he says it. "You kill people and you tear families apart, and I tried so, so fucking hard to seperate myself from your victims and to just focus on catching you instead, but I give up, okay?"

"What are you talking about?" Dean asks, because he can't hear what Dean thinks he means.

"I quit, okay?" Castiel says. "I fucking quit. I'm not on your case, I'm not in the FBI, I'm just fucking out. My two weeks are up tomorrow."

"What are you gonna do then?" Dean asks, almost hesitantly.

"Whatever it takes to get as far away from you as I can," Castiel says. "So if you could just fuck all the way off —"

There's some indistinct murmuring on the other end.

"You told me to talk to him," Castiel snaps, and Dean gets the feeling it's not directed towards him. "You made me talk to him. Well, I'm fucking talking."

"Cas?" Dean says hesitantly.

There's a pause, the near silence filled with muffled talking on the other end. Dean waits impatiently to hear Castiel's voice again, but after a minute or so, it's Michael who speaks.

"I hope that's enough to make you reconsider your career path."

"What?" Dean says, confused.

"This happens every time you kill someone," Michael says. "It hurts people every time."

"Well, yeah, but..." Dean trails off.

"And, just between you and me," Michael says, "You slip up once and we catch you, you are not going to like what happens next. I will make sure of it."

Dean nods to himself. He deserves that.

"Is she alive?" Dean asks.

"For now," Michael says. "And, for your sake, you'd better hope it stays that way."