FIC: A Mighty Dark Night - Chapter X
Title: A Mighty Dark Night
Author: blue_fjords
Rating: R
Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Word length: ~74,000
Warnings: violence, language and sex
Summary: Detective Dean Winchester meets Homeland Security Agent Castiel James over a corpse.
Chapter X
I wrestled the devil, lived to testify
Three hours later, Dean woke with a start when Sam shook his shoulder.
"Sammy? What?" he croaked. Cas stirred in his arms, looking up at Sam with a question in his eyes.
"Shhh," Sam said. "Keep your voices down. Bobby says there's someone moving around outside."
Dean was fully awake now, and he scrambled over Cas to get out of bed. Sam averted his eyes as Dean searched for his pants. Cas reached for his boot cast, and Dean found his pants, too.
"What exactly did Bobby see? Where? Where's Bobby now?" Dean asked, shrugging on his shoulder holster, eschewing the shirt they'd used to clean themselves with earlier. Cas leaned on his arm to pull up his pants, then buckled on his own belt and gun.
"Here," Bobby answered from the doorway. He was carrying two shotguns and handed one over to Sam. John Winchester had taught Dean how to use a handgun, but even before that, Bobby had taught both boys how to respectfully handle a shotgun. Still, his stomach quivered at the sight of his brother's hands gripping the weapon. If he had anything to say about it, no way was Sammy going to have to fire the thing. "There's a man outside. Wanted to be seen, if you ask me, but he's staying out of the circle of light, just on the edge."
"Huh. What do you say we turn on the floodlights, then?"
"Works for me." Bobby made to lead the way, but Dean blocked him with his arm. He couldn't recall the last time Bobby'd climbed the stairs, but his bum leg must have been killing him. And it was safer upstairs.
"Shotguns stay upstairs," Dean told him, using his person of authority voice on him. Which made him feel half a fool, as he was with the three people in the world who were least likely to react to it, but he needed the assurance it provided. "Sammy, that goes for you, too. You look out the back, Bobby the front - see if you can get a hold of Rufus first and start getting some backup out here - and Cas and I will go see who's come to call."
"Be careful, Dean. You know Ellen will skin us alive if you so much as break a nail," Sam said, hoisting the shotgun and moving to the back of the room. The look he shot Dean, though, told him clearly that his little brother knew exactly what he'd been thinking. Dean turned away before he said anything that could be taken out of context later. After they got through… whatever this was.
Bobby clasped his arm and moved into the front bedroom. Cas followed close on Dean's heels down the stairs, his boot cast thumping along.
The porch, garage and shed lights were all on, creating pools of white light in the darkness. Turning on the floodlights would bathe the entire yard in light as bright as day. He caught Cas's eye and nodded at the switch, then crossed over to the front window, using the wall as a buffer and peering through the cracks in the blinds. Cas flicked the switch.
Light poured into the yard, filling every nook and cranny and causing the man who'd tried to use the night as a cloak to blister the air with foul language. It was Crowley.
"Smooth move, Crowley!" Dean yelled out. "What the fuck do you want?"
"Turn off your blasted lights! It's almost like you're trying to get me killed here," Crowley called back, blinking rapidly.
"Nah, I'm just going to arrest your ass."
Crowley was going to make a witty comeback, Dean could see it on his face, but a gun fired from behind a pile of car parts and the bullet sent up a spray of dirt at his feet. Crowley squealed like a rabbit and ran for the porch, bullets cutting holes into Bobby's yard as they chased him.
"Let me in, you son of a poxy whore!" he yelled, fists pounding on the front door. Poxy whore? Dean exchanged a look with Cas. He looked like he'd rather chew nails, but he gave a miniscule nod and yanked open the door. Crowley stumbled in, and Cas slammed it shut again.
Dean grabbed Crowley by the neck and punched him in the face. It felt awesome, so he did it again.
"You fucking leave my mother out of this, scumbag!" He hauled back to punch Crowley a third time, but Cas caught his arm.
"Dean, enough." His fingers were warm on Dean's wrist, a quick squeeze to convey his commiseration, but his attention was on Crowley. "Who is trying to kill you now? Did you bring Lilith here?"
Crowley yanked himself out of Dean's loosened grip and brushed at his waistcoat, attempting to restore his bruised dignity.
"Of course it's Lilith!" he said scathingly. "Nasty piece of work, that one," he continued under his breath. "I don't know what I ever did to her, except steal all her money and set her up to fail in front of all her followers."
"Yeah, that might have something to do with it," Dean said angrily. "Why the hell did you come here? You want cop protection, you don't come to our fucking homes!"
"I didn't come to see you, you arrogant twat!" He turned his back on Dean and fixed Cas with a silky smile. "Agent James. How are things going with you at work, hmmm? Still persona non grata? Looking for an 'in' with Zachariah Adler, something that will make you a bigger man on campus than Raphael Finnerman?"
Dean's blood threatened to over boil. He couldn't stop himself from slamming Crowley back up against the wall. "We're not making deals with you, Crowley. Might as well sell our damn souls to the devil. There's only one way you're getting out of this mess alive, and that's if you tell us exactly what is waiting outside this door!"
"Dean!" Sam yelled from upstairs. "I can see three men in dark clothes coming out of the woods!"
"I've got three more hiding by the barn," Bobby called down.
"The remnants of Lilith's grand unification," Crowley murmured.
Dean narrowed his eyes and abruptly let Crowley go. "No," he said. "That's not who you're hiding from."
"Dean?" Cas asked.
He was right, he had to be. A bead of flop sweat rolled down Crowley's face.
"Crowley's not afraid of Lilith," Dean stated.
Cas frowned and looked the drug dealer up and down. "He is exhibiting physical reactions to fear."
"Oh, he's fucking terrified, all right," Dean agreed. Crowley glared at him. Dean bared his teeth right back. "Who's coming for you?"
The doorbell rang.
Someone upstairs yelped. It sounded like Sam. Crowley closed his eyes, and Cas turned to look at the door as if it had grown tentacles.
"Bobby?" Dean yelled up the stairs.
"Ain't no one set foot on the porch since we been here!"
Fuck a duck.
The doorbell rang again.
"A bit late for a social call," Dean said, raising his voice.
"It is no more rude than leaving a lady waiting," Lilith responded, her voice muffled by heavy oak.
Dean and Cas looked at each other. "I don't know, Cas," Dean whispered. "This is fucked up."
"The men outside are just standing there," Sam shouted down.
"Mine, too. Idjits."
"Okay," Dean decided. "Crowley, you stand there," he said, shoving him back against the banister, "and, Lilith, you come in with your arms raised."
"How gentlemanly."
Cas unlocked the door and pulled it open, keeping his gun trained on Lilith as she walked inside.
Dean's nostrils flared at the sight of her and he had to keep a tight rein on his emotions to prevent himself from shooting her on principle. Lilith and Crowley, the two people that had passed like hurricanes through his life over the past few weeks, were both right there in front of him, trying to act as if Bobby's foyer was precisely where they wanted to be. Dean's trigger finger itched.
"You could have saved yourself a lot of pain, Detective, if you had just told Alistair that Crowley was here," Lilith reprimanded him, her voice cool and clipped. She turned to survey Cas, ignoring his gun and running an appraising eye over his bare chest. "This is your lover, then. I suppose I can see why you did not prefer getting a replacement."
"I don't want you fucking looking at him," Dean snarled. "I don't want you in this house." Cas was already moving towards the closet, where his trench coat had hung since Dean and Bobby had driven him back from the hospital a week ago, and presumably his handcuffs were still in the pockets. "We're arresting the both of you, and you're going to call off your dogs and wait here for the squad car to come take you away."
He had zero faith that they would go, quietly or otherwise, and only a five percent hope that he and Cas could even get cuffs on them, but they had to at least try. Strangely enough, when Cas pulled the cuffs from his coat pocket, Crowley held out his hands. Cas shook his head and twisted Crowley around until he could cuff the other man's hands behind his back. Lilith took a step away from him as Cas quietly read Crowley his rights.
"I don't know what game Crowley is playing, but surely even you are not dense enough to trust him," she said.
"Like you trusted him?" Dean asked innocently. "Turn around."
"No. I have men outside, Detective, have you forgotten them?"
"Hell, no. But they're outside, and we're in here. And as much as it pains me to say this, I'm not letting you leave here with Crowley. You need him alive, don't you? Well, he's under arrest now, so you'll just have to wait your turn."
Lilith sneered and opened her mouth, but Dean never found out what she was going to say then, as both Sam and Bobby yelled from upstairs at the same time.
"Dean! Dudes from the woods are dropping like flies!"
"Men by the barn just keeled over, what the hell is going on down there?!"
Lilith's entire demeanor changed. "We don't have time to argue over this," she said, her tongue tripping over her words. With her eyes so wide, she looked almost young and innocent. "We need to get far away from this place, right now!"
"What is it, what's out there?" Dean demanded.
"Not what, who," Crowley said. Dean gave him a sharp glance. The man looked almost calm.
"Then who?" Dean asked. Crowley just gave him an enigmatic smile. "Do you guys see someone else out there?" Dean yelled up the stairs.
"No - yes! Holy crap, Dean, it's that woman who tried to kill me in Chinatown!"
"Ruby," Cas breathed. He and Dean exchanged a look. They owed Ruby a taking-down.
"I've got one out front," Bobby called. "Tall dude, facial scarring."
Lilith moaned. "It's too late, we're all going to die!" Her voice started low and rose to a fever pitch by the end. She looked to be developing a full-blown case of the hysterics.
"Pull yourself together; you call yourself a criminal overlord?" Dean said roughly.
"Was never hers," Crowley said. He'd recovered all the aplomb it appeared Lilith had lost, standing at ease in the foyer looking for all the world like it was his own desire that kept his hands cuffed together behind his back.
"What do you mean?" Cas asked, eyes narrowed.
"I mean, the king has returned. And he's not going to be too happy that his princess tried to steal his crown. Nasty temper he has. You remember your father's black moods, don't you, Lilith?"
Lilith began to hyperventilate.
"Are they still coming towards the house?" Dean yelled up to Sam and Bobby.
"No!" Sam.
"No, he's just standing there looking creepy." Bobby.
"Okay. We're going out to the porch," Dean decided.
"Before we do," Crowley said, "just to reiterate - I have been taken into your custody?"
"Uh, yeah, Einstein, you're in police custody," Dean answered, frowning.
Crowley seemed to take a strange comfort from that, and submitted easily to Cas leadinghim away by the arm. Lilith was a bit more problematic. Her fist had collided with Dean's jaw and chest before he could subdue her enough to drag her kicking and screaming out to the porch. He held her wrists in an iron grip as he trained his gun on the new man.
The floodlights did the man - Lilith's father, presumably - no favors. He was sickly pale, a result of his many years incarcerated, and Dean spared a thought to wonder how he could have escaped. The scars on his face were still oozing. Dean felt bile rise in his throat. The man's eyes were locked on Lilith, but when Dean cleared his throat to be heard over her tantrum, the man's light-colored eyes focused on him instead.
"So, Lucifer, father of Lilith - shouldn't someone be missing you about now?"
"Other than my darling daughter?" His voice was a bit of a surprise - smooth, soft and cultured. Dean had to strain to hear him. "Hmmm. Lilith and Crowley together. Interesting."
"Oh, it's a boring story, really," Crowley said quickly. "A classic - she just wants me for my money. Your money, pardons, which I've been diligently saving for your triumphant return."
Lilith stopped her fit long enough to give him a disgusted look. "You're a fucking worm, Crowley!" she spat out.
"Language, Lilith," Lucifer said mildly. "We do not befoul our tongues with curses."
"Just everything else?" Dean asked. Cas deliberately shifted and stepped on his foot. He really needed to learn a bit of self-censorship.
"Hmm. You are unimportant, and half-dressed, besides." Lucifer dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "The lawyer. I'd like to see him."
"What? Fuck no!" Dean flushed red in anger and embarrassment. "And keep your hands where I can see them!" he yelled as Lucifer made to put his hands in his coat pockets.
Lucifer held his arms out in a parody of a hug. "I have no weapons. But you will let me speak to the lawyer, or else my most trusted lieutenant will end his life right now."
Fear pierced Dean's heart, a sharp stab. A shotgun sounded from the back of the house. "Sam!" Dean roared. "Tell me you're fine!"
The shotgun sounded again, once more. Someone was yelling inside, voice muffled by the house, but it sounded like Sam. Dean didn't even think, just ran full-out to the door. Lilith slipped from his grasp and he didn't even care. He was leaving Cas alone with three criminals, but Cas had Bobby for backup and Dean had to trust them, that couldn't stop him, he had to protect Sam. A cracking noise sounded from the house, and Dean practically flew.
The screen door rebounded back from the wall with a loud smack, and Sam came stumbling down the stairs. Dean skidded to a stop at his side, reaching out to haul him up, his gun falling uselessly from his hands. Lilith was screaming behind him, Cas's gun went off, followed by the other shotgun - Bobby, still at the front of the house.
"Sam?" Dean asked. He felt sick to his stomach. "You okay, Sammy?"
"Yeah, Dean - my shotgun - she shot it out of my hands!"
His hands were scraped and bleeding, Dean noticed, but he had no time to wrap them, or anything to use as bandages, before a woman's voice interrupted them.
"You have to listen to him," Ruby said, stepping out onto the porch. A whip was coiled loosely in her hands, hence the cracking noise from earlier. There was no sign of Bobby. Dean scrambled in the dirt for his gun and pointed it at her, shoving Sam behind him.
"Cas!" Dean called, raising his voice. "You okay?" He wanted to look over there, but that meant taking his eyes off Ruby and her whip. "Cas?!"
"The situation has detiorated," Cas's voice rumbled back to him. Dean risked a glance.
Lucifer held a bloody shiv, like prisoners would make, and Lilith knelt at his feet, her fingers stained red with the blood seeping slowly across her midsection. Crowley was crouched behind Cas, awkwardly trying to clutch at his foot. He'd been shot, by Cas, most like, and was moaning a string of curses.
"Put down your weapon," Cas commanded, training his gun on Lilith's father. Lucifer slowly raised his eyes from his dying daughter to stare at Cas. Goosebumps rose all along Dean's arms at the pure malevolence that showed in Lucifer's gaze. He knew before Lucifer even moved exactly what he was going to do.
"Cas, duck!" Dean yelled. The shiv flew through the air even as Cas fired, as Ruby's whip lashed out and hit Cas's gun down. Dean ran forward, firing his own weapon as Sam tackled Ruby to the ground. Two of Dean's bullets hit Lucifer in the chest.
The man fell back with a loud "Oof!" as Dean reached Cas. Cas had moved at Dean's warning, just enough to the side that the shiv was lodged in his bicep instead of his chest. Pain clouded his eyes and his hands were bloodied from Ruby's whip, but he'd be okay. Dean fell to his knees and pulled him gingerly into an embrace, kissing him hungrily, reassuring himself.
"Dean," Cas tried to say, pushing at him gently. "Dean. He's wearing a vest."
"Shit," Dean murmured against the other man's lips. He hurriedly let Cas go and shifted on his knees until he was facing Lucifer and trained his gun on him. Over by the house, Sam had subdued Ruby and was straddling her hips, her wrists pinned to her sides by his knees. He gave Dean a strangely jaunty thumbs up, completely unaware of the picture he presented. Crowley was still bemoaning his wounded foot behind them and Lilith looked dead as a doornail off to the side.
Lucifer slowly sat up.
"Hold it right there!" Dean barked. Lucifer ignored him. His eyes had focused on Sam and Ruby.
"Mr. Winchester," he said in his soft, silky voice. "I have been hoping to speak to you about my unfortunate institutionalization."
"Don't listen to him, Sammy!" Dean barked.
Lucifer continued to ignore him. "The state of Maryland declared me insane almost twenty years ago. That does a horrible thing to one's self-esteem. Not to mention one's prospects as a potential employer."
"Shut up, Lucifer, and put your hands in the air!" Dean commanded. He didn't have any cuffs on him, but he'd think of something. He rose to his feet, keeping his gun on Lucifer, and offered a hand down to Cas, hauling him carefully up.
"I want you to re-open my case, and arrange for my legitimate release." Lucifer paid them not a whit of attention, focusing his pale gaze purely on Sam.
"I don't have that kind of authority," Sam protested.
"I can get it for you," Lucifer promised. "You do this thing for me, I do this thing for you - this is how it works."
"No fucking way, Lucifer," Dean said angrily, stalking forward, Cas at his side.
"Dean's right." Sam shifted uncomfortably on his perch. "A, I can't re-open your case. And B, you still seem crazy to me. You broke out! And C, you just knifed your daughter!"
"Ah. I thought you might say that. Ruby."
Ruby tugged her left hand free, reached into her inner jacket pocket, and pulled out a capped needle.
"Sam! Get away from her!" Dean screamed, sudden panic making his voice higher-pitched than normal. How the hell did Ruby get the missing Niveus vial?
Sam looked at him, startled, but before he could move, Ruby had grabbed his ankle and flipped the cap off the needle.
"You will re-open my case," Lucifer said calmly. "Or you will die. I am already manufacturing more of this delightful little drug. Isn't that right, Crowley? With all of the money you've been saving for me?"
"Of course! My fucking foot," Crowley muttered. "Fucking Homeland Security."
Dean could practically feel Cas's desire to strangle the cuffed man with his bare hands, but he was still focused on Ruby.
"Put your gun down, Winchester," she said. "I see your finger move, and mine does, too. Would be a shame to lose your brother over this."
Sam's eyes were huge. "Dean-"
"No. Don't argue with me, Sam." Dean interrupted him. There was movement by the smoking shed, behind Lucifer, out of Ruby's line of sight as she concentrated on him. He said a silent prayer that Bobby's aim was as good as it'd been when he was younger and teaching them the shotguns. "I'm putting my gun down now."
"Wise decision," Ruby complimented him. She let go of Sam's foot and the crack of a shotgun echoed through the yard. Ruby went boneless, the needle falling from lifeless fingers as Sam leaped back. Dean ran forward for the vial even as Lucifer roared, surging off his knees to make his own grab for the poison.
Lilith stopped him. Blood leaked from her mouth, trickling down her chin to join the huge mess of her chest, but she held Cas's gun, the gun Ruby had hit with her whip, and pointed it at her father.
Cas hissed and shoved Dean roughly aside, the re-capped needle now in his hands, as Lilith said, "Goodbye, Father," and fired.
"Down!" Cas barreled into Sam and the three of them went down in a heap as Cas's broken gun exploded in Lilith's hands. The bullet tore into Lucifer's face, and pieces of gun embedded themselves in his neck and his suddenly useless Kevlar vest. Lilith got the brunt of the blast and fell back, her face destroyed.
Dean blinked as the smoke cleared. Father and daughter looked weirdly symmetrical with the ruins of the faces and bloody blond hair. He looked quickly away. He didn't need anymore nightmares.
Bobby came hobbling up from the shed, grimacing. "Did I kill her?"
"I'm sorry, Bobby, but yeah," Dean told him. He wasn't sorry at all that Ruby had died, just that Bobby had been needed to accomplish the deed instead of him. The old man didn't deserve that on his conscience. "If it's any solace, she had big plans to be a mass murderer."
"Speaking of which," Cas said, wincing in pain. It looked like the shiv had been lodged even deeper into his arm after all their leaping to avoid explosions. "Dean, Crowley."
He nodded after Crowley, awkwardly trying to hobble away. Dean tackled him to ground with savage glee.
***
The cleanup took forever. Dean was incredibly grateful for his brother's presence there. Sam was good at dealing with people, from Gabriel and Balthazar to Anna to Rufus and Henriksen. Dean had to make his own report to Henriksen. He felt bad leaving Rufus with the new contingent from Frederick's County, but Bobby knew them, and Sheriff Mills even came out in the middle of the night to help with things and take charge of the disposal of the bodies. Lucifer and Ruby had racked up quite the body count, going through Lilith's men to reach the farm house, most of which Sam and Bobby hadn't even seen.
Dean spoke with Henriksen in the waiting room of the ER in Frederick while Cas got the shiv removed and the wound sewn up. Dean wondered how many times he'd be waiting in a hospital for Cas, and vice versa. Instead of depressing him, the thought made him strangely warm. And at least this time he'd be able to take him home right away. Things could have gone so much worse.
Dean's weirdly buoyant mood lasted until Henriksen drove them back to the farmhouse. Yellow police tape blocked off huge swaths of the yard and porch. Sam was outside, leaning against the Impala, waiting for them.
"Dean," he said, hurrying over as Henriksen cut the engine and Dean helped Cas out of the backseat. "Major Henriksen. DHS took Crowley away."
"Not again!" Dean groaned.
"What?"Henriksen's eyes cut to Cas's exhausted face. "Crowley was Dean's collar. No offense to Agent James, but he's currently suspended. Crowley should be in our custody."
"Well," Sam hedged. "He was wearing Cas's handcuffs, and Cas was the one to read him his rights."
"Yeah, and I bet Crowley made a stink about that, too," Dean said, his empty hand forming a fist. "Probably thinks he can cut a better deal with Raphael!"
"We do need Crowley to tell us where Lucifer was manufacturing the drug," Cas rasped. The sun was just starting to peek above the tree line, and the dawn light highlighted the crow's feet around Cas's eyes. He looked like he'd spent the night wrestling a bear and lost.
"Jesus, Cas, he was bluffing!" Dean exclaimed.
"You can't know that for sure," Cas argued back.
"When did he have the time, huh? Crowley hadn't even seen Lucifer for years, he was scared shitless of him!"
It was the strangest argument Dean had ever had. He still had an arm around Cas's waist and was the only thing propping him up. Cas's hands were fisted in the blue scrub shirt Dean had been given at the hospital, hanging on for dear life. Sam and Henriksen watched them argue back and forth, Sam anxious and Henriksen a thundercloud.
"Ruby," Cas muttered. "Ruby," he repeated, louder. "She was in Lilith's inner circle. She could have made a separate deal with Brady, gotten some drugs out for Lucifer. We don't know who killed him. He was a loose end, Ruby could have snipped him."
"Crowley did that!"
"We only think Crowley did that. And even if the additional drugs turn out to be a smokescreen, who knows what other information can be gleaned from Crowley?"
Dean took a step back and Cas stumbled before righting himself, Dean's hand still on his waist. "So. DHS has the guy, and you're going to go back to them?"
"You're being childish, Dean," Cas said, his face darkening.
"Childish. Yeah, that's me. Hey, Sam," he didn't look away from Cas's face as he called to his brother, "would you do me a favor and drive Agent James back to DHS?"
"Dean-" Sam protested.
"I would appreciate it, Sam," Cas cut him off.
"What? Dude, what about Raphael?" Sam asked, his eyes bugging out a bit.
"Raphael won't be a problem. I brought Crowley into custody, didn't !?"
He staggered forward and took Sam by the arm, forcibly leading him to the Prius.
"Winchester," Henriksen said quietly, "are you really going to let your partner walk alone into the lion's den?"
Dean cut his eyes at him. "You heard what he said."
Henriksen snorted. "I didn't get to be commander of our precinct by listening just to men's words."
The lights came on in the Prius and Sam shifted into Drive. Dean watched the tail lights bounce down Bobby's dirt lane to the main road. Eventually Henriksen shrugged.
"Have it your way, Winchester. I'll see you at the office later this morning. We have a jurisdiction battle to wage." He clapped Dean on the shoulder and left, following Sam and Cas down the road.
Bobby was sitting at the kitchen table when Dean got inside, feet dragging. An open bottle of tequila sat in the center of the table. Dean sank wordlessly into the chair opposite Bobby. Bobby didn't say anything, just poured.
"Bobby," Dean said, eyeing the pale amber liquor in his tumbler. "I'm a fucking moron."
He downed the drink in one gulp.
***
Three days later, Dean sat at a red light on Wisconsin, Sam in the passenger seat beside him. Things had been a little strained between them since the night of the attack, and were just now starting to get back to normal with Dean's announcement that he'd be taking some leave to go up to Rufus's family's cabin in the mountains for some much-needed R&R. That first morning after, Sam had stiffly reported to him that Raphael had been temporarily suspended pending an investigation by the time Sam and Cas had arrived at DHS. Gabriel and Balthazar had welcomed Cas back with open arms. Dean heard from Chuck that Crowley was proving a slippery witness. Thus far, his information had not lead to any further caches from Niveus. The knowledge was cold consolation.
"So Ballard called me into her office this morning," Sam said suddenly.
"Shit. What did - was it about…" Dean twisted around in his seat to look at his brother and was surprised to see a small smile on Sam's face.
"She asked me how I liked Baltimore."
"Okaaaaay…"
"Because she's recommending me to transfer to the DA's office," Sam finished in a rush.
"Well, that's awesome! Way to go, Sammy," Dean said, a wide smile spreading across his face.
"Just think, Dean, you're out there catching criminals, and now I'll get to be in the courtroom, putting them away. A Winchester team effort," Sam said, bouncing slightly in the passenger seat.
"We'll be like the Dukes of Hazard. We've even got Jo for Cousin Daisy."
Sam made a face, and Dean laughed.
"Not the Dukes of Hazard, then, eh Sammy? You thinking something more square, like the Hardy Boys, and Jo is Nancy Drew?"
"Hmph," Sam huffed, but he was smiling as he looked out the window. "Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew." He glanced at Dean out of the corner of his eye. "So where does Cas fit in?"
Dean flushed slightly. "Cas isn't family."
"He's not, Dean?"
Dean twitched his shoulders, cracking a muscle, and sighed. "I don't know."
"I think that's something you should figure out, then," Sam said after a moment.
Dean grunted in response. "It's just, this thing with Crowley…"
"I was pissed for you, too, Dean," Sam said. "But that wasn't Cas's fault."
"I know," Dean said quietly.
They drove in silence until they reached Sam's apartment. Sarah was waiting on the front stoop and waved when Dean pulled over.
"I'm taking Sarah to Aunt Ellen's Sunday night dinner while you're away," Sam said.
"Damn, Sam, you're growing up all over the place today," Dean teased him.
"Yeah, well, I am bigger than you, Dean. Try not to burn the cabin down." Sam opened the door and got out, slamming the door behind him.
"Hey! Careful of my baby!"
Sam leaned back in through the window. "See you in a couple weeks?"
"'Course."
"You'll call me every day, right?" And there it was, that note of anxiousness that always crept into Sam's voice when they were going to be spending time apart. Not that Sam would be biting his pillow and moping while his big brother was away, but Dean was still a little glad to know that he was needed and loved by at least one person. It didn't stop him from rolling his eyes.
"You're a fucking mother hen, you know that, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll call you." He grinned. "Go make out with your girl for me."
"Pig," Sam said fondly and pulled his head out of the car and slapped the trunk. Dean honked, and winked at Sarah, before pulling back into traffic.
He was stopped at a red light on Connecticut when a flash of khaki caught his eye. It wasn't just that he didn't want to go alone, however unnatural it felt to be starting off for a road trip by himself, the wide front seat of the Impala stretching empty beside him. He could go back and ask Sam to go with him, and Sam would. He'd make an excuse to Sarah, put off his meeting in Baltimore, and go just because Dean asked. And they'd have a great time, too. But Dean had been with Sam for almost thirty years. As Sam had said, it was time to expand the circle.
He'd wanted to take Cas to this cabin for weeks now. And the only thing that was stopping him was his need to see everything in black and white, to fit Cas into a neatly labeled box. He'd known since their first meeting that that would be difficult. It had just taken a long time to realize that it was also impossible, that it shouldn't even be attempted. The light changed, and he turned left.
He found Cas at the first place he looked, Chuck's house.
Cas was alone in the kitchen, sitting at the table going through a box of files. Chuck led Dean wordlessly into the room and backed out, grabbing a bottle of tequila as he slunk off. Cas looked up, face impassive.
"I told you once that I'd disappoint you," Dean said. He cleared his throat. He should have stopped for a drink of water, or something stronger. "And you said that I should apologize, and you'd forgive me." His throat was threatening to close up. He took a shaky breath. "I'm sorry, Cas. I should have trusted you. I should have gone with you."
Cas tilted his head at him, the familiar action causing Dean's eyes to water.
"You should have," he agreed. "But I should have asked. I am also sorry for going back to DHS. I tendered my resignation this afternoon."
"You - what?"
"I am leaving DHS. It is no longer the place I want to be." He stood up, posture stiff, and Dean noticed for the first time that the boot was finally off his leg. "Dean. What does your apology mean?"
"It means… I want you to come with me to this cabin in the mountains. I want to, I don't know, sit around a campfire and talk about feelings."
"That sounds hellish."
Dean burst out laughing. "Yeah, it does. God, Cas, never change, will you?"
"I don't intend to. I'm still angry at you, Dean, but I'm very happy you came back." He stared into Dean's eyes, his own eyes guarded, but Dean could see in them a spark of something he hadn't managed to extinguish, no matter how hard he had pushed.
"Come with me to the cabin," Dean said again. "I want to sit beside you on the dock."
Cas smiled. "That sounds… good."
I'll never get out of your love alive
Author: blue_fjords
Rating: R
Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Word length: ~74,000
Warnings: violence, language and sex
Summary: Detective Dean Winchester meets Homeland Security Agent Castiel James over a corpse.
Chapter X
I wrestled the devil, lived to testify
Three hours later, Dean woke with a start when Sam shook his shoulder.
"Sammy? What?" he croaked. Cas stirred in his arms, looking up at Sam with a question in his eyes.
"Shhh," Sam said. "Keep your voices down. Bobby says there's someone moving around outside."
Dean was fully awake now, and he scrambled over Cas to get out of bed. Sam averted his eyes as Dean searched for his pants. Cas reached for his boot cast, and Dean found his pants, too.
"What exactly did Bobby see? Where? Where's Bobby now?" Dean asked, shrugging on his shoulder holster, eschewing the shirt they'd used to clean themselves with earlier. Cas leaned on his arm to pull up his pants, then buckled on his own belt and gun.
"Here," Bobby answered from the doorway. He was carrying two shotguns and handed one over to Sam. John Winchester had taught Dean how to use a handgun, but even before that, Bobby had taught both boys how to respectfully handle a shotgun. Still, his stomach quivered at the sight of his brother's hands gripping the weapon. If he had anything to say about it, no way was Sammy going to have to fire the thing. "There's a man outside. Wanted to be seen, if you ask me, but he's staying out of the circle of light, just on the edge."
"Huh. What do you say we turn on the floodlights, then?"
"Works for me." Bobby made to lead the way, but Dean blocked him with his arm. He couldn't recall the last time Bobby'd climbed the stairs, but his bum leg must have been killing him. And it was safer upstairs.
"Shotguns stay upstairs," Dean told him, using his person of authority voice on him. Which made him feel half a fool, as he was with the three people in the world who were least likely to react to it, but he needed the assurance it provided. "Sammy, that goes for you, too. You look out the back, Bobby the front - see if you can get a hold of Rufus first and start getting some backup out here - and Cas and I will go see who's come to call."
"Be careful, Dean. You know Ellen will skin us alive if you so much as break a nail," Sam said, hoisting the shotgun and moving to the back of the room. The look he shot Dean, though, told him clearly that his little brother knew exactly what he'd been thinking. Dean turned away before he said anything that could be taken out of context later. After they got through… whatever this was.
Bobby clasped his arm and moved into the front bedroom. Cas followed close on Dean's heels down the stairs, his boot cast thumping along.
The porch, garage and shed lights were all on, creating pools of white light in the darkness. Turning on the floodlights would bathe the entire yard in light as bright as day. He caught Cas's eye and nodded at the switch, then crossed over to the front window, using the wall as a buffer and peering through the cracks in the blinds. Cas flicked the switch.
Light poured into the yard, filling every nook and cranny and causing the man who'd tried to use the night as a cloak to blister the air with foul language. It was Crowley.
"Smooth move, Crowley!" Dean yelled out. "What the fuck do you want?"
"Turn off your blasted lights! It's almost like you're trying to get me killed here," Crowley called back, blinking rapidly.
"Nah, I'm just going to arrest your ass."
Crowley was going to make a witty comeback, Dean could see it on his face, but a gun fired from behind a pile of car parts and the bullet sent up a spray of dirt at his feet. Crowley squealed like a rabbit and ran for the porch, bullets cutting holes into Bobby's yard as they chased him.
"Let me in, you son of a poxy whore!" he yelled, fists pounding on the front door. Poxy whore? Dean exchanged a look with Cas. He looked like he'd rather chew nails, but he gave a miniscule nod and yanked open the door. Crowley stumbled in, and Cas slammed it shut again.
Dean grabbed Crowley by the neck and punched him in the face. It felt awesome, so he did it again.
"You fucking leave my mother out of this, scumbag!" He hauled back to punch Crowley a third time, but Cas caught his arm.
"Dean, enough." His fingers were warm on Dean's wrist, a quick squeeze to convey his commiseration, but his attention was on Crowley. "Who is trying to kill you now? Did you bring Lilith here?"
Crowley yanked himself out of Dean's loosened grip and brushed at his waistcoat, attempting to restore his bruised dignity.
"Of course it's Lilith!" he said scathingly. "Nasty piece of work, that one," he continued under his breath. "I don't know what I ever did to her, except steal all her money and set her up to fail in front of all her followers."
"Yeah, that might have something to do with it," Dean said angrily. "Why the hell did you come here? You want cop protection, you don't come to our fucking homes!"
"I didn't come to see you, you arrogant twat!" He turned his back on Dean and fixed Cas with a silky smile. "Agent James. How are things going with you at work, hmmm? Still persona non grata? Looking for an 'in' with Zachariah Adler, something that will make you a bigger man on campus than Raphael Finnerman?"
Dean's blood threatened to over boil. He couldn't stop himself from slamming Crowley back up against the wall. "We're not making deals with you, Crowley. Might as well sell our damn souls to the devil. There's only one way you're getting out of this mess alive, and that's if you tell us exactly what is waiting outside this door!"
"Dean!" Sam yelled from upstairs. "I can see three men in dark clothes coming out of the woods!"
"I've got three more hiding by the barn," Bobby called down.
"The remnants of Lilith's grand unification," Crowley murmured.
Dean narrowed his eyes and abruptly let Crowley go. "No," he said. "That's not who you're hiding from."
"Dean?" Cas asked.
He was right, he had to be. A bead of flop sweat rolled down Crowley's face.
"Crowley's not afraid of Lilith," Dean stated.
Cas frowned and looked the drug dealer up and down. "He is exhibiting physical reactions to fear."
"Oh, he's fucking terrified, all right," Dean agreed. Crowley glared at him. Dean bared his teeth right back. "Who's coming for you?"
The doorbell rang.
Someone upstairs yelped. It sounded like Sam. Crowley closed his eyes, and Cas turned to look at the door as if it had grown tentacles.
"Bobby?" Dean yelled up the stairs.
"Ain't no one set foot on the porch since we been here!"
Fuck a duck.
The doorbell rang again.
"A bit late for a social call," Dean said, raising his voice.
"It is no more rude than leaving a lady waiting," Lilith responded, her voice muffled by heavy oak.
Dean and Cas looked at each other. "I don't know, Cas," Dean whispered. "This is fucked up."
"The men outside are just standing there," Sam shouted down.
"Mine, too. Idjits."
"Okay," Dean decided. "Crowley, you stand there," he said, shoving him back against the banister, "and, Lilith, you come in with your arms raised."
"How gentlemanly."
Cas unlocked the door and pulled it open, keeping his gun trained on Lilith as she walked inside.
Dean's nostrils flared at the sight of her and he had to keep a tight rein on his emotions to prevent himself from shooting her on principle. Lilith and Crowley, the two people that had passed like hurricanes through his life over the past few weeks, were both right there in front of him, trying to act as if Bobby's foyer was precisely where they wanted to be. Dean's trigger finger itched.
"You could have saved yourself a lot of pain, Detective, if you had just told Alistair that Crowley was here," Lilith reprimanded him, her voice cool and clipped. She turned to survey Cas, ignoring his gun and running an appraising eye over his bare chest. "This is your lover, then. I suppose I can see why you did not prefer getting a replacement."
"I don't want you fucking looking at him," Dean snarled. "I don't want you in this house." Cas was already moving towards the closet, where his trench coat had hung since Dean and Bobby had driven him back from the hospital a week ago, and presumably his handcuffs were still in the pockets. "We're arresting the both of you, and you're going to call off your dogs and wait here for the squad car to come take you away."
He had zero faith that they would go, quietly or otherwise, and only a five percent hope that he and Cas could even get cuffs on them, but they had to at least try. Strangely enough, when Cas pulled the cuffs from his coat pocket, Crowley held out his hands. Cas shook his head and twisted Crowley around until he could cuff the other man's hands behind his back. Lilith took a step away from him as Cas quietly read Crowley his rights.
"I don't know what game Crowley is playing, but surely even you are not dense enough to trust him," she said.
"Like you trusted him?" Dean asked innocently. "Turn around."
"No. I have men outside, Detective, have you forgotten them?"
"Hell, no. But they're outside, and we're in here. And as much as it pains me to say this, I'm not letting you leave here with Crowley. You need him alive, don't you? Well, he's under arrest now, so you'll just have to wait your turn."
Lilith sneered and opened her mouth, but Dean never found out what she was going to say then, as both Sam and Bobby yelled from upstairs at the same time.
"Dean! Dudes from the woods are dropping like flies!"
"Men by the barn just keeled over, what the hell is going on down there?!"
Lilith's entire demeanor changed. "We don't have time to argue over this," she said, her tongue tripping over her words. With her eyes so wide, she looked almost young and innocent. "We need to get far away from this place, right now!"
"What is it, what's out there?" Dean demanded.
"Not what, who," Crowley said. Dean gave him a sharp glance. The man looked almost calm.
"Then who?" Dean asked. Crowley just gave him an enigmatic smile. "Do you guys see someone else out there?" Dean yelled up the stairs.
"No - yes! Holy crap, Dean, it's that woman who tried to kill me in Chinatown!"
"Ruby," Cas breathed. He and Dean exchanged a look. They owed Ruby a taking-down.
"I've got one out front," Bobby called. "Tall dude, facial scarring."
Lilith moaned. "It's too late, we're all going to die!" Her voice started low and rose to a fever pitch by the end. She looked to be developing a full-blown case of the hysterics.
"Pull yourself together; you call yourself a criminal overlord?" Dean said roughly.
"Was never hers," Crowley said. He'd recovered all the aplomb it appeared Lilith had lost, standing at ease in the foyer looking for all the world like it was his own desire that kept his hands cuffed together behind his back.
"What do you mean?" Cas asked, eyes narrowed.
"I mean, the king has returned. And he's not going to be too happy that his princess tried to steal his crown. Nasty temper he has. You remember your father's black moods, don't you, Lilith?"
Lilith began to hyperventilate.
"Are they still coming towards the house?" Dean yelled up to Sam and Bobby.
"No!" Sam.
"No, he's just standing there looking creepy." Bobby.
"Okay. We're going out to the porch," Dean decided.
"Before we do," Crowley said, "just to reiterate - I have been taken into your custody?"
"Uh, yeah, Einstein, you're in police custody," Dean answered, frowning.
Crowley seemed to take a strange comfort from that, and submitted easily to Cas leadinghim away by the arm. Lilith was a bit more problematic. Her fist had collided with Dean's jaw and chest before he could subdue her enough to drag her kicking and screaming out to the porch. He held her wrists in an iron grip as he trained his gun on the new man.
The floodlights did the man - Lilith's father, presumably - no favors. He was sickly pale, a result of his many years incarcerated, and Dean spared a thought to wonder how he could have escaped. The scars on his face were still oozing. Dean felt bile rise in his throat. The man's eyes were locked on Lilith, but when Dean cleared his throat to be heard over her tantrum, the man's light-colored eyes focused on him instead.
"So, Lucifer, father of Lilith - shouldn't someone be missing you about now?"
"Other than my darling daughter?" His voice was a bit of a surprise - smooth, soft and cultured. Dean had to strain to hear him. "Hmmm. Lilith and Crowley together. Interesting."
"Oh, it's a boring story, really," Crowley said quickly. "A classic - she just wants me for my money. Your money, pardons, which I've been diligently saving for your triumphant return."
Lilith stopped her fit long enough to give him a disgusted look. "You're a fucking worm, Crowley!" she spat out.
"Language, Lilith," Lucifer said mildly. "We do not befoul our tongues with curses."
"Just everything else?" Dean asked. Cas deliberately shifted and stepped on his foot. He really needed to learn a bit of self-censorship.
"Hmm. You are unimportant, and half-dressed, besides." Lucifer dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "The lawyer. I'd like to see him."
"What? Fuck no!" Dean flushed red in anger and embarrassment. "And keep your hands where I can see them!" he yelled as Lucifer made to put his hands in his coat pockets.
Lucifer held his arms out in a parody of a hug. "I have no weapons. But you will let me speak to the lawyer, or else my most trusted lieutenant will end his life right now."
Fear pierced Dean's heart, a sharp stab. A shotgun sounded from the back of the house. "Sam!" Dean roared. "Tell me you're fine!"
The shotgun sounded again, once more. Someone was yelling inside, voice muffled by the house, but it sounded like Sam. Dean didn't even think, just ran full-out to the door. Lilith slipped from his grasp and he didn't even care. He was leaving Cas alone with three criminals, but Cas had Bobby for backup and Dean had to trust them, that couldn't stop him, he had to protect Sam. A cracking noise sounded from the house, and Dean practically flew.
The screen door rebounded back from the wall with a loud smack, and Sam came stumbling down the stairs. Dean skidded to a stop at his side, reaching out to haul him up, his gun falling uselessly from his hands. Lilith was screaming behind him, Cas's gun went off, followed by the other shotgun - Bobby, still at the front of the house.
"Sam?" Dean asked. He felt sick to his stomach. "You okay, Sammy?"
"Yeah, Dean - my shotgun - she shot it out of my hands!"
His hands were scraped and bleeding, Dean noticed, but he had no time to wrap them, or anything to use as bandages, before a woman's voice interrupted them.
"You have to listen to him," Ruby said, stepping out onto the porch. A whip was coiled loosely in her hands, hence the cracking noise from earlier. There was no sign of Bobby. Dean scrambled in the dirt for his gun and pointed it at her, shoving Sam behind him.
"Cas!" Dean called, raising his voice. "You okay?" He wanted to look over there, but that meant taking his eyes off Ruby and her whip. "Cas?!"
"The situation has detiorated," Cas's voice rumbled back to him. Dean risked a glance.
Lucifer held a bloody shiv, like prisoners would make, and Lilith knelt at his feet, her fingers stained red with the blood seeping slowly across her midsection. Crowley was crouched behind Cas, awkwardly trying to clutch at his foot. He'd been shot, by Cas, most like, and was moaning a string of curses.
"Put down your weapon," Cas commanded, training his gun on Lilith's father. Lucifer slowly raised his eyes from his dying daughter to stare at Cas. Goosebumps rose all along Dean's arms at the pure malevolence that showed in Lucifer's gaze. He knew before Lucifer even moved exactly what he was going to do.
"Cas, duck!" Dean yelled. The shiv flew through the air even as Cas fired, as Ruby's whip lashed out and hit Cas's gun down. Dean ran forward, firing his own weapon as Sam tackled Ruby to the ground. Two of Dean's bullets hit Lucifer in the chest.
The man fell back with a loud "Oof!" as Dean reached Cas. Cas had moved at Dean's warning, just enough to the side that the shiv was lodged in his bicep instead of his chest. Pain clouded his eyes and his hands were bloodied from Ruby's whip, but he'd be okay. Dean fell to his knees and pulled him gingerly into an embrace, kissing him hungrily, reassuring himself.
"Dean," Cas tried to say, pushing at him gently. "Dean. He's wearing a vest."
"Shit," Dean murmured against the other man's lips. He hurriedly let Cas go and shifted on his knees until he was facing Lucifer and trained his gun on him. Over by the house, Sam had subdued Ruby and was straddling her hips, her wrists pinned to her sides by his knees. He gave Dean a strangely jaunty thumbs up, completely unaware of the picture he presented. Crowley was still bemoaning his wounded foot behind them and Lilith looked dead as a doornail off to the side.
Lucifer slowly sat up.
"Hold it right there!" Dean barked. Lucifer ignored him. His eyes had focused on Sam and Ruby.
"Mr. Winchester," he said in his soft, silky voice. "I have been hoping to speak to you about my unfortunate institutionalization."
"Don't listen to him, Sammy!" Dean barked.
Lucifer continued to ignore him. "The state of Maryland declared me insane almost twenty years ago. That does a horrible thing to one's self-esteem. Not to mention one's prospects as a potential employer."
"Shut up, Lucifer, and put your hands in the air!" Dean commanded. He didn't have any cuffs on him, but he'd think of something. He rose to his feet, keeping his gun on Lucifer, and offered a hand down to Cas, hauling him carefully up.
"I want you to re-open my case, and arrange for my legitimate release." Lucifer paid them not a whit of attention, focusing his pale gaze purely on Sam.
"I don't have that kind of authority," Sam protested.
"I can get it for you," Lucifer promised. "You do this thing for me, I do this thing for you - this is how it works."
"No fucking way, Lucifer," Dean said angrily, stalking forward, Cas at his side.
"Dean's right." Sam shifted uncomfortably on his perch. "A, I can't re-open your case. And B, you still seem crazy to me. You broke out! And C, you just knifed your daughter!"
"Ah. I thought you might say that. Ruby."
Ruby tugged her left hand free, reached into her inner jacket pocket, and pulled out a capped needle.
"Sam! Get away from her!" Dean screamed, sudden panic making his voice higher-pitched than normal. How the hell did Ruby get the missing Niveus vial?
Sam looked at him, startled, but before he could move, Ruby had grabbed his ankle and flipped the cap off the needle.
"You will re-open my case," Lucifer said calmly. "Or you will die. I am already manufacturing more of this delightful little drug. Isn't that right, Crowley? With all of the money you've been saving for me?"
"Of course! My fucking foot," Crowley muttered. "Fucking Homeland Security."
Dean could practically feel Cas's desire to strangle the cuffed man with his bare hands, but he was still focused on Ruby.
"Put your gun down, Winchester," she said. "I see your finger move, and mine does, too. Would be a shame to lose your brother over this."
Sam's eyes were huge. "Dean-"
"No. Don't argue with me, Sam." Dean interrupted him. There was movement by the smoking shed, behind Lucifer, out of Ruby's line of sight as she concentrated on him. He said a silent prayer that Bobby's aim was as good as it'd been when he was younger and teaching them the shotguns. "I'm putting my gun down now."
"Wise decision," Ruby complimented him. She let go of Sam's foot and the crack of a shotgun echoed through the yard. Ruby went boneless, the needle falling from lifeless fingers as Sam leaped back. Dean ran forward for the vial even as Lucifer roared, surging off his knees to make his own grab for the poison.
Lilith stopped him. Blood leaked from her mouth, trickling down her chin to join the huge mess of her chest, but she held Cas's gun, the gun Ruby had hit with her whip, and pointed it at her father.
Cas hissed and shoved Dean roughly aside, the re-capped needle now in his hands, as Lilith said, "Goodbye, Father," and fired.
"Down!" Cas barreled into Sam and the three of them went down in a heap as Cas's broken gun exploded in Lilith's hands. The bullet tore into Lucifer's face, and pieces of gun embedded themselves in his neck and his suddenly useless Kevlar vest. Lilith got the brunt of the blast and fell back, her face destroyed.
Dean blinked as the smoke cleared. Father and daughter looked weirdly symmetrical with the ruins of the faces and bloody blond hair. He looked quickly away. He didn't need anymore nightmares.
Bobby came hobbling up from the shed, grimacing. "Did I kill her?"
"I'm sorry, Bobby, but yeah," Dean told him. He wasn't sorry at all that Ruby had died, just that Bobby had been needed to accomplish the deed instead of him. The old man didn't deserve that on his conscience. "If it's any solace, she had big plans to be a mass murderer."
"Speaking of which," Cas said, wincing in pain. It looked like the shiv had been lodged even deeper into his arm after all their leaping to avoid explosions. "Dean, Crowley."
He nodded after Crowley, awkwardly trying to hobble away. Dean tackled him to ground with savage glee.
***
The cleanup took forever. Dean was incredibly grateful for his brother's presence there. Sam was good at dealing with people, from Gabriel and Balthazar to Anna to Rufus and Henriksen. Dean had to make his own report to Henriksen. He felt bad leaving Rufus with the new contingent from Frederick's County, but Bobby knew them, and Sheriff Mills even came out in the middle of the night to help with things and take charge of the disposal of the bodies. Lucifer and Ruby had racked up quite the body count, going through Lilith's men to reach the farm house, most of which Sam and Bobby hadn't even seen.
Dean spoke with Henriksen in the waiting room of the ER in Frederick while Cas got the shiv removed and the wound sewn up. Dean wondered how many times he'd be waiting in a hospital for Cas, and vice versa. Instead of depressing him, the thought made him strangely warm. And at least this time he'd be able to take him home right away. Things could have gone so much worse.
Dean's weirdly buoyant mood lasted until Henriksen drove them back to the farmhouse. Yellow police tape blocked off huge swaths of the yard and porch. Sam was outside, leaning against the Impala, waiting for them.
"Dean," he said, hurrying over as Henriksen cut the engine and Dean helped Cas out of the backseat. "Major Henriksen. DHS took Crowley away."
"Not again!" Dean groaned.
"What?"Henriksen's eyes cut to Cas's exhausted face. "Crowley was Dean's collar. No offense to Agent James, but he's currently suspended. Crowley should be in our custody."
"Well," Sam hedged. "He was wearing Cas's handcuffs, and Cas was the one to read him his rights."
"Yeah, and I bet Crowley made a stink about that, too," Dean said, his empty hand forming a fist. "Probably thinks he can cut a better deal with Raphael!"
"We do need Crowley to tell us where Lucifer was manufacturing the drug," Cas rasped. The sun was just starting to peek above the tree line, and the dawn light highlighted the crow's feet around Cas's eyes. He looked like he'd spent the night wrestling a bear and lost.
"Jesus, Cas, he was bluffing!" Dean exclaimed.
"You can't know that for sure," Cas argued back.
"When did he have the time, huh? Crowley hadn't even seen Lucifer for years, he was scared shitless of him!"
It was the strangest argument Dean had ever had. He still had an arm around Cas's waist and was the only thing propping him up. Cas's hands were fisted in the blue scrub shirt Dean had been given at the hospital, hanging on for dear life. Sam and Henriksen watched them argue back and forth, Sam anxious and Henriksen a thundercloud.
"Ruby," Cas muttered. "Ruby," he repeated, louder. "She was in Lilith's inner circle. She could have made a separate deal with Brady, gotten some drugs out for Lucifer. We don't know who killed him. He was a loose end, Ruby could have snipped him."
"Crowley did that!"
"We only think Crowley did that. And even if the additional drugs turn out to be a smokescreen, who knows what other information can be gleaned from Crowley?"
Dean took a step back and Cas stumbled before righting himself, Dean's hand still on his waist. "So. DHS has the guy, and you're going to go back to them?"
"You're being childish, Dean," Cas said, his face darkening.
"Childish. Yeah, that's me. Hey, Sam," he didn't look away from Cas's face as he called to his brother, "would you do me a favor and drive Agent James back to DHS?"
"Dean-" Sam protested.
"I would appreciate it, Sam," Cas cut him off.
"What? Dude, what about Raphael?" Sam asked, his eyes bugging out a bit.
"Raphael won't be a problem. I brought Crowley into custody, didn't !?"
He staggered forward and took Sam by the arm, forcibly leading him to the Prius.
"Winchester," Henriksen said quietly, "are you really going to let your partner walk alone into the lion's den?"
Dean cut his eyes at him. "You heard what he said."
Henriksen snorted. "I didn't get to be commander of our precinct by listening just to men's words."
The lights came on in the Prius and Sam shifted into Drive. Dean watched the tail lights bounce down Bobby's dirt lane to the main road. Eventually Henriksen shrugged.
"Have it your way, Winchester. I'll see you at the office later this morning. We have a jurisdiction battle to wage." He clapped Dean on the shoulder and left, following Sam and Cas down the road.
Bobby was sitting at the kitchen table when Dean got inside, feet dragging. An open bottle of tequila sat in the center of the table. Dean sank wordlessly into the chair opposite Bobby. Bobby didn't say anything, just poured.
"Bobby," Dean said, eyeing the pale amber liquor in his tumbler. "I'm a fucking moron."
He downed the drink in one gulp.
***
Three days later, Dean sat at a red light on Wisconsin, Sam in the passenger seat beside him. Things had been a little strained between them since the night of the attack, and were just now starting to get back to normal with Dean's announcement that he'd be taking some leave to go up to Rufus's family's cabin in the mountains for some much-needed R&R. That first morning after, Sam had stiffly reported to him that Raphael had been temporarily suspended pending an investigation by the time Sam and Cas had arrived at DHS. Gabriel and Balthazar had welcomed Cas back with open arms. Dean heard from Chuck that Crowley was proving a slippery witness. Thus far, his information had not lead to any further caches from Niveus. The knowledge was cold consolation.
"So Ballard called me into her office this morning," Sam said suddenly.
"Shit. What did - was it about…" Dean twisted around in his seat to look at his brother and was surprised to see a small smile on Sam's face.
"She asked me how I liked Baltimore."
"Okaaaaay…"
"Because she's recommending me to transfer to the DA's office," Sam finished in a rush.
"Well, that's awesome! Way to go, Sammy," Dean said, a wide smile spreading across his face.
"Just think, Dean, you're out there catching criminals, and now I'll get to be in the courtroom, putting them away. A Winchester team effort," Sam said, bouncing slightly in the passenger seat.
"We'll be like the Dukes of Hazard. We've even got Jo for Cousin Daisy."
Sam made a face, and Dean laughed.
"Not the Dukes of Hazard, then, eh Sammy? You thinking something more square, like the Hardy Boys, and Jo is Nancy Drew?"
"Hmph," Sam huffed, but he was smiling as he looked out the window. "Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew." He glanced at Dean out of the corner of his eye. "So where does Cas fit in?"
Dean flushed slightly. "Cas isn't family."
"He's not, Dean?"
Dean twitched his shoulders, cracking a muscle, and sighed. "I don't know."
"I think that's something you should figure out, then," Sam said after a moment.
Dean grunted in response. "It's just, this thing with Crowley…"
"I was pissed for you, too, Dean," Sam said. "But that wasn't Cas's fault."
"I know," Dean said quietly.
They drove in silence until they reached Sam's apartment. Sarah was waiting on the front stoop and waved when Dean pulled over.
"I'm taking Sarah to Aunt Ellen's Sunday night dinner while you're away," Sam said.
"Damn, Sam, you're growing up all over the place today," Dean teased him.
"Yeah, well, I am bigger than you, Dean. Try not to burn the cabin down." Sam opened the door and got out, slamming the door behind him.
"Hey! Careful of my baby!"
Sam leaned back in through the window. "See you in a couple weeks?"
"'Course."
"You'll call me every day, right?" And there it was, that note of anxiousness that always crept into Sam's voice when they were going to be spending time apart. Not that Sam would be biting his pillow and moping while his big brother was away, but Dean was still a little glad to know that he was needed and loved by at least one person. It didn't stop him from rolling his eyes.
"You're a fucking mother hen, you know that, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll call you." He grinned. "Go make out with your girl for me."
"Pig," Sam said fondly and pulled his head out of the car and slapped the trunk. Dean honked, and winked at Sarah, before pulling back into traffic.
He was stopped at a red light on Connecticut when a flash of khaki caught his eye. It wasn't just that he didn't want to go alone, however unnatural it felt to be starting off for a road trip by himself, the wide front seat of the Impala stretching empty beside him. He could go back and ask Sam to go with him, and Sam would. He'd make an excuse to Sarah, put off his meeting in Baltimore, and go just because Dean asked. And they'd have a great time, too. But Dean had been with Sam for almost thirty years. As Sam had said, it was time to expand the circle.
He'd wanted to take Cas to this cabin for weeks now. And the only thing that was stopping him was his need to see everything in black and white, to fit Cas into a neatly labeled box. He'd known since their first meeting that that would be difficult. It had just taken a long time to realize that it was also impossible, that it shouldn't even be attempted. The light changed, and he turned left.
He found Cas at the first place he looked, Chuck's house.
Cas was alone in the kitchen, sitting at the table going through a box of files. Chuck led Dean wordlessly into the room and backed out, grabbing a bottle of tequila as he slunk off. Cas looked up, face impassive.
"I told you once that I'd disappoint you," Dean said. He cleared his throat. He should have stopped for a drink of water, or something stronger. "And you said that I should apologize, and you'd forgive me." His throat was threatening to close up. He took a shaky breath. "I'm sorry, Cas. I should have trusted you. I should have gone with you."
Cas tilted his head at him, the familiar action causing Dean's eyes to water.
"You should have," he agreed. "But I should have asked. I am also sorry for going back to DHS. I tendered my resignation this afternoon."
"You - what?"
"I am leaving DHS. It is no longer the place I want to be." He stood up, posture stiff, and Dean noticed for the first time that the boot was finally off his leg. "Dean. What does your apology mean?"
"It means… I want you to come with me to this cabin in the mountains. I want to, I don't know, sit around a campfire and talk about feelings."
"That sounds hellish."
Dean burst out laughing. "Yeah, it does. God, Cas, never change, will you?"
"I don't intend to. I'm still angry at you, Dean, but I'm very happy you came back." He stared into Dean's eyes, his own eyes guarded, but Dean could see in them a spark of something he hadn't managed to extinguish, no matter how hard he had pushed.
"Come with me to the cabin," Dean said again. "I want to sit beside you on the dock."
Cas smiled. "That sounds… good."
I'll never get out of your love alive