Day 58: Cafeteria

[gald_digger]

Anise woke up feeling lucky to be alive. She still felt a bit waterlogged, even though her skin, hair, and clothes were completely dry. During last night's adventures, she'd swallowed a lot of water, and it still felt heavy and disgusting in her stomach. Her arms and legs were tired from treading water. Lying still in her bed, she still kind of

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[theroadsofar]

"Things are fine, dude," Dean said behind Castiel. "Please tell me you're not gonna go all New Age on us about how we're getting along. It's way too early."

He'd caught that last part. Maybe not the rest, but he'd got that. Something about the man felt off; he was still kinda scruffy looking, but he looked...different. New perspective on life? Getting a hard-on for the crap they called food here? Either way, he had to admit that no matter what he thought about the angel, Castiel had been right about Ruby and that right there was opening a lot of other doors Dean wasn't comfortable with. Dean slid next to his brother, wishing he could pull him somewhere private and get on his case about the Ruby thing.

"By the way, I checked and you were right," Dean added, shooting Castiel a weird look. What was his deal?

Dean didn't consider himself the most observant person ever or like Sherlock or nothin', but even he was getting some bizarro vibes from Castiel. Judging by the look on Sam's face, he wasn't the only one here. Dean didn't bother touching his food just yet. What he wanted was answers and a way to corner Sam on the Ruby Is a Friggen Demon thing next chance he got.

[allroadslead]

Sam opened his mouth, then shut it again when he realized he was rescued from answering that question with Dean's arrival. It's way to early for Dean was basically code for, Never in a million years. Which normally drove Sam up the wall, but in this case, he was right there with Dean.

And. Wait. Right about what?

Dean's weird looked aimed at Castiel; Sam's aimed at Dean. What was he talking about? And since when did Dean source information from Castiel? As far as Sam knew, Dean wasn't exactly on board with the angel business, either.

He shook it off. First things first: Castiel.

"Dean, this is...Michael." He gestured at Castiel and gave his brother a pointed look. "He woke up feeling a lot better this morning."

-Okay, seriously, what was Dean talking about, though? What did Castiel tell him?

[poorexample]

Speak of the devil. Michael's gaze flicked over to -- to Eric as he walked up and offered a comment on the situation. He barely knew the man, but from what he remembered of his interaction with him this past week, he was the sort of person who tended to try and add humor to situations that didn't necessarily call for it. Or maybe that was deflection.

Either way, it was strange to be faced with him now that he was a little more aware of himself. The way that Matt introduced him was odd as well, though Michael realized that in a way, this was his first time meeting Eric.

He immediately felt like he was the third wheel, both because of the family relation and because he was the only one who was halfway sane, though it was good to see that the brothers were interacting with each other. He couldn't even imagine what mess of issues was brewing between them, but the fact that a suicide attempt was involved meant that it had to be pretty heavy stuff.

"I'm sorry," he said first off. "Like I was just telling your brother, you're going to have to disregard everything I said this past week. I... wasn't myself." And what had he supposedly been right about? His attempts to frame a poor woman as some sort of demon? He would have to apologize to her as well, if he happened across her. He really couldn't even explain where all of the nonsense he'd been talking had come from, but he was going to have to try and make up for it nonetheless.

[theroadsofar]

Feeling a lot better? It took Dean a moment to realize he wasn't just talking about, y'know, the obvious, like Castiel getting injured and waking up healed up like this place had a habit of doing. The whole accelerated healing thing was creepy enough as is. Dean exchanged looks with Sam -- for some reason he kept getting the impression the kid was two seconds away from elbowing him in the ribs -- and then swiveled to Castiel, who was...

Actually sounding like a normal guy.

It finally clicked. "Michael", wasn't that the name Castiel here had been under when he visited Sam? So what, did that mean -- actually, yeah, it did. Probably. Hell, they'd gone through the same thing themselves, thought they were a tightass wimp and a garage monkey. He just hadn't expected to see it work on someone who thought he was an angel of the Lord. Dean frowned, trying to see if he could figure out if "Michael" here was Castiel all nice and brainwashed to think he was Joe Average or if this was the real deal. For all he knew, this could be the poor bastard the angel was possessing.

"Actually, I was about say you were totally right and we've got to do something about it," Dean paused. He wasn't going to pussyfoot around just because Castiel thought he was a civilian. "Uh, except it's a lot more complicated than you told me."

He could feel Sam practically sending off "what's going on" vibes. Dean made it a point to ignore him for now. Sure, he had some words, but he wasn't gonna air out their dirty laundry in front of Castiel, of all people.

Skipping Maia by request!

[poorexample]

"Do something about it?" Michael responded, rearing back in his seat and sending Eric a look as if he was crazy -- because, frankly, he was. The worst thing was that part of him knew what the man was getting at. He wanted to bind her into some sort of trap and probably force answers of her because now she was considered the enemy.

More than that, the detective in him -- which was actually a real aspect of him -- was tempted to ask how it was more complicated. He thirsted for facts, but none of these would be real, and the last thing he could do was indulge someone who was still so steeped in his delusions.

"Don't even think about it," he said with a shake of his head. "Everything I said was made up. Neither of you should be listening to things like that," he continued, glancing over to Matt as his tone became more reproachful. It didn't help that being a bit older than them made him feel like he had to be the voice of reason.

That was easier than lashing out at them for partly contributing to his ending up here, anyway.

"I'm sure she's an innocent woman, just misled like the rest of us. Instead of trying to call her out you should be focusing on your own health. Both of you." He frowned down at his bowl of food, wondering if any of this would actually get through to them. He hoped it would.

[allroadslead]

Sam was about to go screw it and ask outright Do something about what?, but Castiel's mini speech answered it all for him. For a moment, his brain was in limbo, between that state where he understood perfectly on one level, but hadn't quite pieced it together on another.

Shit.

Dean pointedly ignoring him only confirmed what he already knew. When had this happened? And why now? Castiel had had nearly a week to say something, but he obviously hadn't until yesterday.

He glanced at Dean, then looked back at Castiel. This was the worst timing. This wouldn't have been good at any time, frankly, but with a third party here-a third party who didn't even know who he was anymore-Sam could feel the tension rapidly mounting as both he and Dean steadfastly refused to blow up in front of an audience.

Dammit. He'd always known this was going to happen. He'd just never thought it would happen right now.

Yeah. Not one of his best lines of logic.

Misled. Right. Jesus, this was going to be a freaking mess. The second he was left alone with Dean, shit was going to hit the fan. He wasn't even sure what to say anymore. All he wanted to do was explain himself to Dean, but that wasn't gonna happen with Castiel there.

"Look, Cas-I mean, Michael. We appreciate your concern, really, but..." He cleared his throat. "Promise me, if you talk to anyone else, try not to mention everything you know about, uh. About us, okay? Like, Sam and Dean us."

Right. There. Something he could take care of. ...Hopefully. It was bad enough Dean knew about Ruby. They didn't need a stranger hearing about Castiel's so-called delusions about angels and demons and hunters.

[theroadsofar]

Jesus friggen Christ. Seriously?

Dean wasn't even sure which version of Castiel he preferred at the moment: stalker variety or preachy Carebear variety who was...apparently dead set on lecturing Sammy and him about how sane they weren't.

"Yeah, uh," Dean shot a look at Sam. He had a feeling the kid was aiming for something, like when he decided to go with a story on the fly back on the job. Usually that was kinda his thing, but it wasn't like he had a monopoly on it. Dean waved a finger at Sam and him. "We're trying to keep it down low. Y'know, important for recovery and all that stuff."

It wasn't like Castiel back before he got mind-tricked was some lockbox -- you couldn't expect an angel who had no idea how to lie like everyone else did to learn to keep his mouth shut. But if he believed he was a real guy on the road to recovery, then hey, for all they knew, he might actually keep his mouth shut if he was trying to get a pass out of this place. Now wasn't the time or place to go on about just how right the angel (ex-angel? What did he even call him?) was. Or why Dean hadn't tried to exorcise the black-eyed bitch.

Yeah, Sam and him? They were gonna have some serious words. Just not here. Not with Michael/Castiel trying to handhold them so they could get all Stepford too. Dean tried not to shudder. Sure, there were problems with him and Sam, and he didn't really want to die in six months if he had any say in it, but that didn't mean he was willing to settle for being Eric Derringer again.

[poorexample]

It seemed like an odd thing for the two of them to fixate on. Why would he go around speaking of their delusions to the other sick people here? That would only make things worse, wouldn't it? If he was remembering correctly, he'd already told a few people that he was an angel and had actually been believed in some cases.

Michael sighed, pushing his bowl of food away as he realized that he was even less willing to eat now than he had been when he'd thought he was an angel that wasn't even used to eating. No wonder he'd lost it. He'd never been that good at taking care of himself, had he?

"You don't need to worry about that," he said with a shake of his head. "I'm not about to spread misinformation." All he wanted to do at this point was focus on his own health so he could get out of here and back to some sort of normalcy. He knew he was going to have to make some changes in his life, though right now it was hard enough just facing a pair of brothers who had been through the wringer a few too many times.

"I'm serious about your health, though," he pressed, leaning forward again to lay his arms on the table. He was no doctor -- not even close -- but he couldn't let this go when Eric and Matt's dysfunctions were what had gotten him dragged into all of this.

He turned to look at Eric specifically. "Have you still been struggling with suicidal thoughts?" That had been the first domino, hadn't it?

[allroadslead]

Sam twitched visibly at the phrase suicidal thoughts. His memory wasn't that fuzzed out when it came to being Matthew and the idea of a suicidal Eric hit way too close to home. He thought he'd seen the last of resigned-to-death Dean three years ago in Nebraska.

Apparently, that was just a trial run for when he sold his soul later.

Between that and Castiel's insistence on preaching to their mental well-being (seriously, this version of Castiel was starting to weird him out), he wasn't sure he wanted to sit through an entire meal of this. Especially not with the Ruby thing hanging thick in the air. He could feel it every time Dean looked at him.

He held up a hand before Castiel could say anymore about Dean's death wish. "He's-fine. We'll be fine." He shifted uncomfortably, then looked over at his brother. A part of him wanted nothing more than to put this off, but it was Dean who had Dad's habit of avoiding the issue. Sam, on the other and, could never manage when it came down to it.

Sooner they got this out in the open, the better. He knew how Dean was the longer he spent chewing over crap. Time did not heal wounds when it came to Dean Winchester.

And this was already out of control. There was no way Sam was letting a confrontation happen outside of his terms.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

[theroadsofar]

Dean stared at Castiel. What, now he was making digs at the whole expiration date thing too?

Probably a good thing Sam decided to pull his diplomatic Jedi thing, Dean sitting stiff next to him and grinding his teeth, trying to tell himself that Castiel was brainwashed or whatever and this wasn't really him. Hopefully. Now Dean didn't consider himself the most sensitive guy out there, but he was pretty sure that last time he checked, you didn't run up to someone you barely knew and ask how suicidal they happened to feel today. Despite how awkward it was gonna be in the next couple of seconds, Dean was glad Sam wanted to pull him aside, if only so he didn't have to get more questions like that coming from left field.

"Yeah, sure," Dean said. He sounded even friendly. Dean swung around on the seat and got to his feet, moving further out of range as if he was thinking about inspecting that pink gruel at the counter.

He didn't even know why it was pink. It wasn't even a natural color.

Dean waited for Sam to catch up, keeping his voice down.

"If he keeps it up, I'm gonna deck him," Dean grumbled, because it felt a hell of a lot easier to talk about Castiel than this Ruby thing.

[allroadslead]

Sam let out a huff and said under his breath, "Yeah, I might just let you."

The atmosphere immediately turned awkward after that, as he realized he couldn't dodge the Ruby discussion forever. He'd pulled Dean aside; it was now or never.

Crap.

The other question was whether Dean knew about the time difference...but he had to have. There was no way Dean wouldn't have put two and two together. If there was time for Sam to have struck up an alliance with a demon for several months, then a good chunk of time had to have passed. No, Dean knew about that, too.

"Look, before you say anything, I meant to...I wanted to tell you, okay, I just. I didn't know how to tell you that you died, Dean. Everything, it happened after you died, and when I saw you again here for the first time..."

He shot a quick glance at the guards, partly to make sure they weren't attracting any unwanted attention by hovering in a corner, and to have an excuse to look away.

[theroadsofar]

He should be even more pissed than he already was, but there was a point where Dean thought he was just glad Sam was at least being upfront with him. Even if it was, y’know, after the fact.

“So what’s she doing here?” Dean didn’t even know where to start. “Sam, you don’t think it’s a bit weird for a demon to show up acting all buddy buddy? Dude, what if she knew I was gonna be okay?”

It made sense to him. From what he understood, he was something of a catch to the crossroads demons and they were probably keen on keeping an eye on him and his contract and okay, so he didn’t read the fine print. How did you work out what having a contract twice meant? Or apparently dying like he was supposed to, according to Sam’s version of things. Christ, it made his head hurt trying to work this out. Dean pretended like he was checking out the totally fascinating options of slop, slop and more slop, keeping his voice down to a hissing whisper. The sad thing was he couldn’t blame Sam for having a hard time keeping his head on straight after he supposedly died. It wasn’t like Dean had done much better after Cold Oak.

He didn’t even want to think back to it. Just remembering that empty feeling, Sam lying there? It still scared him, way way more than Hell ever could.

So yeah, he thought on some level he understood where Sam came from. It was the whole demon thing and their bullshit mind-games he was struggling with. It didn’t help that demon bitch had stuck to her guns on this whole thing either