Chapter Text
Chapter Three:
"Cas!" Sam called, looking around desperately as he paced back and forth. "Cas, come on! You can't keep ignoring me." He said. He'd spent the last ten minutes trying to call the angel down.
"What?" A voice snapped and he turned to find Castiel staring at him in annoyance.
"I'm worried about Dean."
"Then call Balthazar." The angel said coldly and was just about to flutter off again.
"He's off having sex with someone else!" Sam shouted before the angel could fly off. Castiel froze and Sam relaxed, flooding with relief.
Cas cocked his head to the side in confusion. "Balthazar is off having intercourse...instead of helping you?" He said, tone low with warning.
"What? No, I was talking about Dean. Dean's off having sex. Although I suppose Balthazar could be too. I didn't really ask."
"No he's not." Cas replied impassively.
"Is that an angel thing. Like, can you sense each other?" Sam asked.
Cas huffed, nostrils flaring in irritation. "I was talking about Dean." He muttered impatiently.
"Oh, right." Sam mumbled. "Well he is." Sam pulled out his cell phone and turned on his voicemail, playing a message Dean left not too long before Sam had begun to summon Cas.
"Hey Sam, I don't think I'll be needing that other room after all. By the way, I have the impala so if you want to go somewhere you're going to have to walk." A female could be heard giggling in the background throughout most of the message.
"And?" Castiel said.
"What do you mean 'And'? I thought you said he couldn't be with anyone else?"
"When I said he couldn't be with anyone else I didn't mean by force. If my knowledge is accurate, he'll find himself incapable of performing sexually with another person." Castiel let out a sigh and sat on the bed.
"Are you okay?" Sam asked, momentarily distracted.
"Yes, I'm just...tired, I believe, is the sensation."
Sam shuffled nervously and looked around. "How long until you lose your powers?" He asked.
"It should be a while. It's not as urgent as it seems." The angel admitted. "The wait is designed to be extremely painful though."
"But why?"
"An incomplete bond seems disloyal. Without fulfilling the connection we're desecrating the meaning of a marriage." Cas sounded as though he were quoting someone else.
"And you're sure there's no way out of it?"
"I don't know that much of bonds to be honest. There are ways to disconnect the bond but they're for angels far more experienced than I." Sam always forgot that, as far as angels were concerned, Castiel was young. "By the time I mastered such a skill it would be too late."
"This is so…" Sam gestured around, looking for the right word. "Ridiculous, really."
"I suppose it is." Castiel conceded before standing up. "I must leave now. There are many things accomplish." He said before disappearing.
"Bye." Sam said to the empty room, wishing that for once Castiel wasn't so bad at communication. Still, under Dean's tutelage he'd gotten better. But, considering the fact that Dean had more mental issues than a psych ward, this was probably as good as Cas was ever going to get. They were going to make one hell of a couple.
Line Break:
Dean pushed the woman (Tina?) up against a wall, kissing her neck gently. She let out a giggle accompanied by a moan and Dean smirked. It seemed that his life wouldn't be completely upstaged by recent events and, frankly, he could live with that.
"Oh, Dean." The woman moaned, arching upwards and grinding her hips against his. It felt good and he groaned, shoving his hands up her shirt. He ran his fingers over her flesh and up to her bra, fondling her breasts through the fabric. She pulled him into a kiss and began tugging on his shirt longingly.
Dean furrowed his brows in confusion. Usually by this point he would have a raging erection. Between the anticipation in the bar, the excitement at finding a partner, and the sexually charged walk to the room, he would be aching and ready to go. But right now, no matter how good everything felt, he couldn't get it up. And that was disconcerting. Even at his worst Dean had always been able to get it up.
'Shit.' He thought, feeling panicked. It was safe to say he was more scared than he'd ever been in his whole life; with, possibly, the exception of Hell.
"I have to go!" He shouted, pulling away from Tina (?) quickly and rushing out of the room. Her protests echoed behind him but he ignored them, focused, instead, on making his way out of damn bar and back to his hotel room.
Dean rushed into the Impala, slamming the key into the engine and streaking out of the driveway. The tires whined under the strain but the hunter was too far gone to care. He'd make it up to his baby later when he wasn't having a crisis.
"Dammit, Cas." He grumbled under his breath. This was all the angel's fault. Well, it wasn't, but it was Balthazar's and that was close enough. His stomach rumbled again, reminding him that he'd been hungry for a while now and he was debating on getting more food.
"Keep driving."
Dean jumped and looked behind him to see Balthazar.
"What are you doing in here? Get out!" He snapped irritably. This had been the worst day of his life and he didn't want anything to do with the man responsible for it. Still, he kept driving, abandoning the only restaurant for miles.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist; I'm not here under any nefarious pretenses." The angel said patronizingly.
"I don't care. Leave me alone." Dean grumbled.
"Look, I'm sorry. I should have stopped you and Cas and this is all my fault." Even though he said it Dean doubted that Balthazar was being genuine. "But that's not why I'm here. This case you and Sam are on. The one in Wyoming. We think it's the dragon."
"We?"
"You're husband and I have been looking into it." Balthazar said with a smirk.
Dean huffed. "You think it's another dragon?"
"No, the same one."
Dean faltered in surprise. "The one from Oregon?"
Balthazar nodded. "Yes, we think one of them escaped and came down to Wyoming."
Dean sighed and tapped his fingers on the wheel irritably.
"I take it you still have the sword." Balthazar said.
Dean flinched. "No." He ground out through clenched teeth.
"Well, what did you do with it?" Balthazar was being oddly polite and the hunter suspected that Cas had given him a good talking to when he'd gotten back to Heaven. Plus, he couldn't be too happy about being at the beck and call of the Winchesters and was probably hoping good behavior would get him out of it.
"We, uh…gave it to…" The last word trailed off into something unintellible as Dean looked guiltily ahead.
"I'm sorry, I don't speak mumble. What?" Balthazar inquired in an irritable tone.
"We gave it to Cas." Dean admitted reluctantly. He was greeted with several seconds of silence until Balthazar let out a bark of amused laughter.
"Oh, I see what he's doing. Very clever, brother, very clever." Balthazar sing-sang from the back seat.
"What?" Dean snarled, wondering what had made the infernal trouble-maker so happy.
"He does have a way of surprising people that Castiel does. Keeping the sword until you give in is rather ingenious." Balthazar mused.
"What?" Dean asked, unsure of what Balthazar meant.
"You can't call Castiel until you're ready to consummate the relationship; he already made that much clear." The angel said, voice dripping with delight. "And you can't get the sword unless you call Castiel." Dean's jaw clenched in frustration as he realized the angel was right. Except, he suddenly remembered another possibility.
"Sam could call him." Dean countered.
"Yes, but he'll only give the sword to you."
Dean twitched in agitation. "Why?" He knew he wouldn't like the answer but he couldn't help asking.
"Because, little Winchester, you and Cas are playing the sexual version of 'Chicken' and this is his trump card." Dean was right, he didn't like the answer. "As stilted and awkward as my brother may seem, he really is quite devious." With that Balthazar disappeared.
Dean let out a growl at the man's smugness. He'd been debating on calling Castiel and just getting it over with, but Balthazar had reaffirmed his stubbornness. Unfortunately for the angel, Cas had witnessed the whole exchange and Balthazar was now paying dearly for it.
Line Break:
Sam opened the door to his brother's hotel room, reaching his hand out to flip the light switch and illuminate the space.
"Oh, for Pete's sake!"
Dean jumped and looked at Sam like a deer caught in the headlights. He was currently crouched over in the corner of his hotel room cradling a pie container – the contents of which he'd been eating with gusto until Sam had interrupted him. Sam looked around and grimaced in disgust at the magnitude of wrappers and empty food bags strewn around the room, evidence of Dean's night time food run. Dean had managed to find a slew of restaurants near the motel and had made frequent ventures to each.
"You didn't call Cas?" Sam exclaimed in disappointment.
"Well, Sammy, I didn't know you were so eager for me to have gay sex."
Sam lifted an eyebrow. "Good one." He said sarcastically.
"Give me a break. It's early. Hey, do you know if they have doughnuts around here somewhere?"
Sam snorted in annoyance and walked out of the room, clearly reaching the end of his rope.
Dean got up shakily
"I'm getting really sick of this." He grouched. Packing up his stuff he went out to the impala, where he was greeted by the sight of Sam holding a pack of doughnuts. "Oh, thank god." He said gratefully, throwing his stuff unceremoniously into the car and shoving a pastry into his mouth. It said something about his state of mind that he didn't even object when Sam took the driver's seat and he was left taking the passenger's side.
"Appreciate it because we're not stopping for another hour." Sam lectured, starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot.
"What?!" Dean yelled in surprise.
"Dean, we'll never get to Wyoming if you keep stopping to get something to eat every ten seconds." Sam said, ever the voice of reason.
Dean knew he was right but that didn't stop him from pouting. It also didn't stop him from whining within the next couple of minutes as he became ravenous once again.
"Sam, can we-"
"What happened to the doughnuts?" Sam asked.
Dean paused sheepishly and fiddled his hands. "I finished them all."
"What?! I told you we wouldn't be stopping for another hour!"
"I know, but I was hungry!"
"You're always hungry! Dammit, Dean. I'm not stopping!"
"Please?"
"No!"
"But-"
"No! Now shut up!" Sam angrily shoved an AC/DC cassette into the radio and turned the volume up high to drown out any more requests Dean may have made. Dean groaned and writhed around, hand pressed against his stomach in agony. He huffed and moaned, twisting around in his seat and looking around longingly for something to eat. He paused in excitement when he saw an old hard candy stuck to the car's carpet.
"Ooh." He said in interest, bending down and grabbing the treat. It was stuck to the floor pretty well and he had to tug several times to get it up, but when he did he longingly lifted it to his mouth. Suddenly, the radio went silent and a hand was reaching towards him.
"You're not going to eat that!" Sam snapped, reaching for the sweet.
"Yes I am." Dean challenged, moving away from Sam's grip.
"Dean, that's disgusting."
Dean popped the candy into his mouth anyway, ignoring the crumbs and odd bit of dirt.
"That is so gross." Sam said, making a noise of disgust.
"Before you start lecturing me why don't you try telling me how it got there in the first place? You know my rule about candy in the car." Dean said. Sam bristled a little and looked away. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Ugh, a hair." He scoffed, pulling the hair out of his mouth and ignoring Sam's hacking sound.
"That is atrocious." A voice came from the back seat.
"Dammit, Balthazar, quit doing that!" Dean yelled, looking at the sneering man who had appeared in the car.
"So, I see you're still heading to Wyoming."
"Yeah, why wouldn't we be?" Sam asked curiously and Dean internally groaned when he realized he'd forgotten to fill the man in on the changes in the case.
"Because you don't have the sword. Didn't Dean tell you?" Balthazar replied.
"No." Sam gritted out, shooting Dean a glare.
"Ah, he must have been distracted. You, Sammy-boy, have a dragon on your hands."
"Don't call me Sammy." Sam said on instinct. He should have known that that would only insight the angel and the look Balthazar gave him said as much. "A dragon? Like the one that we encountered in Oregon?"
"Yes, Sammy." Balthazar said the name with immense pleasure. "In fact, it's the exact one you encountered in Oregon. The one that survived, that is."
"At least we know how to defeat it this time." Sam muttered. "All we need is the…" The young man trailed off and a look of resigned understanding came to his face. "Right. Castiel has the sword. And I'm assuming he won't give it to Dean unless…"
"Unless he completes the bond. Exactly." Balthazar finished the sentence for him. "Well, I'm off." He said, disappearing as usual.
Dean sneered at the angel's departure. Of course he'd only shown up to cause trouble.
"How could you not tell me?" Sam asked.
"I was distracted!"
Sam huffed. "Precisely, Dean. Even if we had the sword how do you expect to hunt in your condition?"
Dean heaved a breath and leaned back in his seat. Sam was right, as usual; Dean was fighting a losing battle. Unfortunately for all of them, that's one thing Dean was really good at.