Title: Blood and Anesthetic

Chapter: 13

Notes: I read through a transcript and re-watched ‘The End’ trying to find if they mentioned a specific date or even month when Sam said ‘yes’. If they said one, I missed it and can’t find it, so I picked a month to use for it.

~~~~~~~~~

Jo’s twenty-eighth birthday came and went. Unlike Dean, she celebrated the passing of another year, not trying to ignore the time sliding by in a seeming faster whirl of hours with each year she aged. She felt older than she was, as though she’d aged several years in a single one. The day was spent with all those same people she spent her days with, the only difference being in the quiet well wishes and little presents pressed into her hands. There was no cake, only a candy bar Emily had found shoved in the bottom of one box of supplies, forgotten by whoever had grabbed it initially. Godiva dark chocolate had never tasted so good.

Presents were no longer grand things, but were no less dear. Chuck gave her a package of travel tissues. A big ‘expense’ for him. His obsession was with paper goods such as tissues and toilet paper since they’d quit finding such items regularly. The last time they’d found a big twenty-four roll package of toilet paper, Chuck had sat at his desk hugging it like it was a full body pillow, a tiny blissful smile upon his lips. Jo had expected him to start kissing it, while Dean told him ‘don’t squeeze the Charmin’ and let him have his own roll before he took the package to distribute it among the bathrooms, private baths first. Chuck had started crying, grateful for that luxury. Dean made the rounds, dividing the rest of the package as evenly as possible among the bathrooms so everyone would potentially be able to use some.

Castiel gave her lotion and offered to help her rub it in really well. All of the gifts were things like that. A book from Maggie, a t-shirt from Alexis, embroidered and beaded by her. Melanie gave her a framed drawing for her cabin, one of Melanie’s pencil etchings of Jo, Dean, and Cas. She’d chosen to set the scene with the Impala, with the three of them leaning against the hood, Jo in the center between Dean and Cas. Of the three, Jo was the only one looking out of the picture at the viewer, while Dean and Cas looked at her. Dean’s expression was sad, contemplative, and Castiel’s was pleased, lips curved in that appealing tiny grin he had. The picture was lovely, with a haunting quality to it and Jo thought Melanie had captured the present with an uncannily accurate hand.

Melanie wasn’t as constant a fixture in Castiel’s company as she’d been. She never mentioned being alone with him after that day, nor did he say anything to Jo about her except in a general group context. He didn’t ask about her progress with guns, protesting the decision, refusing to admit they may have made the correct one. He also didn’t step in and pull Melanie from it, accepting that the decision had been made whether he liked it or not. That issue was the one thing he remained upset with Jo about, making it clear that he felt a little betrayed at how she’d sided with Dean. No amount of explaining to him that she’d come to that same conclusion all on her own swayed him and Jo finally just dropped the subject entirely.

Perhaps it was for the best that Mel spent time away from Cas. Jo didn’t know if it was purely Castiel’s decision or if Melanie had decided to keep her distance for awhile, for neither had confided in her. Whichever it was, it kept Melanie from being as dependant on him. It was a good step towards maturity that Melanie needed.

~~~~~~~~~~

The decision to step away from Cas had been a difficult one for Melanie to make because he did mean a lot to her. She honestly wanted to spend as much time with him as she always did, but she’d hurt him. He needed to cool down from his anger over her slip of the tongue, anger he denied having, yet she knew was there. She’d talked that decision over with Alexis and not Jo, hesitant to talk to Jo about it. While she thought Jo would understand, she didn’t feel comfortable telling her what had happened because Jo was like an extension of Cas. Melanie had come to associate the two of them together in her mind. Where there was Jo, there was Cas, and vice-versa. Cas was upset with her and she didn’t want Jo to be too.

With Alexis’s help, she came to the conclusion that she needed time from him and that it was okay to take that time. No one would think anything of it.

She also tried to quit fantasizing about Dean as much, which was even more difficult than not running to see Cas all the time. Dean had become everything she thought she wanted in a guy. He was cute, smelled really good, and was physically strong. He was a skilled leader, and once she’d gotten past his scary attributes, funny as well, always having some sort of comeback. And he made those leadership things look easy. But it was hard not to think about him when he spent a couple hours with her every other day and also came to her lessons on gun safety with Jo. He approved of the lessons, she could tell, and it made her feel good to know that. It made her feel like he cared a little about her even if he seemed oblivious to her interest in him.

She tried to occupy herself with work and helping others, continuing to provide the refreshments for the weekly meetings when asked by Emily and help Alexis with the children. She pushed herself to stay busy, not letting herself dwell on the incident with Cas. As April slid towards May, she became more comfortable with a handgun, though Jo and Dean still hadn’t started her on actual shooting yet. They’d started her with twice weekly sessions, that low-key slow start Jo had told her would happen. She’d name the parts of a gun, run down how to care for one, load it, and every little thing she could learn without firing it. Melanie hoped that pace would continue, because she had a horrible suspicion that being decent with a gun meant she might be pressed into going outside the camp.

It was bad outside the camp. She’d rather not go out of it ever again. If she had her way, she wouldn’t.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Is she really learning to shoot?”

Dean looked over his shoulder at Nina on his bed. She was lounging in a way that best displayed her assets, the top sheet wound about her body so as to tease him with glimpses of those magnificent curves. Nina was very beautiful, built, and bitchy. Dean had known a lot of women like her in his life, but he thought Nina could take the prize. She was definitely out for number one and didn’t care who knew it.

“Melanie, I mean. I heard a rumor that Jo marched her over to the shooting range awhile back and gave her a lesson in all the basics.”

Thus far, she’d shown no animosity to Jo that he’d noticed. A quick mention one evening of how Jo had felled him with a single blow years before had likely been what made her cautious. Well, Jo hadn’t felled him exactly, but there was no one here to know that except him and Jo and Jo hadn’t refuted the story. Nina wouldn’t get into it with anyone who could possibly mar her beauty in any way if ticked off. She was predictable that way.

“Not a rumor. It’s time she learned. Guns are just the beginning. I’d like to start her on self-defense and other weapons, too.” He really wanted to see Melanie gain confidence in herself and thought that learning those skills would help. An added bonus.

Her brows rose as she shifted position, briefly baring her breasts. “That’s a lofty goal.”

“It’s a necessity.”

“Well….” She licked her lips, flipping her dark blond hair over one shoulder. “I could teach her a few things. I know a little about self-defense.”

Turning, he watched her a minute, long enough that she actually appeared uncomfortable. She wasn’t the sort of woman to make offers like that unless it benefited her in some way, so how would it benefit her? “And why would you offer to do that, because I know it’s not out of the goodness of your heart.”

“Maybe I feel sorry for her.”

Laughter welled up and he let it loose. Nina? Feel sorry for someone? “I step into the Twilight Zone? Rod Serling standing outside gabbing?”

Her expression shifted, the seductive pose disappearing as she made a noise of disgust and reached for her clothes. “God, you’re such a dick sometimes.”

“I just don’t believe you’ve ever felt sorry for anyone in your life, sweetheart. It’s an act.” It had to be an act.

“It’s not an act,” she protested. “She reminds me of someone, okay?”

“Yeah? Who?” He expected her to wilt under the challenge and admit she was trying to play him for some reason he couldn’t think of off the top of his head.

Instead, she paused in the act of getting dressed, turning her face away and looking down at the floor as though she was hesitant to admit something personal to him, which she might be. He hadn’t exactly invited personal information aside from the very basic things. “My sister, if you must know.”

Did she even have a sister? It was possible, he supposed. Nina never mentioned her family at all. She declined to give much in the way of any personal information, which fit well with his own policy. Another reason their arrangement worked out well. He didn’t invite and she didn’t offer personal tidbits. A nice understanding. “Sure. In what way does she remind you of your…‘sister’.” He raised his hands, doing air quotes to emphasize. “Because I’m pretty sure you despise Melanie and everything she is.”

“Yeah, well, I despised my sister too.” Her glance held sadness, self-loathing, regret, and all those things he knew were in his eyes when anyone ever mentioned Sam. It was uncomfortable for him, like looking in a mirror. “Tammy was just like Melanie, a little helpless, stupid bitch without the sense a gnat has. Our folks let her run wild while I had to be the responsible one and try to watch out for her. They were too busy with their high paying jobs to bother with parenting.”

“What happened to her?” He looked for signs that she was lying, the facial tics, the body language, and so forth, and saw none. Was she actually telling the truth?

Nina pulled her shirt on and sighed. “I wouldn’t go clubbing with her one Friday night because I had a big final the following Monday, so she went by herself. She left with the wrong guy and when he got freaky, she didn’t even know how to start trying to get away from him or defend herself. She was nineteen and he beat the crap out of her and left her for dead. A couple days later she did die. She’s the reason I decided to be an E.R. nurse. You see things like that everyday in the big cities. Stupid girls who think nothing bad could ever happen to them. If I’d been with her, I never would have let her leave with some guy she’d just met.” She uttered a bitter laugh. “So there you go. Bitch Nina in a nutshell. Surprised?”

He watched her finish dressing. A convincing story, but he still didn’t think she should be anywhere near Melanie. “Maybe your offer is genuine, but, uh, no. Jo’s got her well in hand right now and there are others who’ve offered to show her things before you. I’ll keep it in mind though.”

Nina nodded, a jerky movement. “Okay. I’ll practice up my piece of self-defense info just in case. It’s only the stuff you learn at a beginner class. Jo probably knows it all anyway.” She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and secured it. “Two days?”

“Same time, same place,” he confirmed. Their standing ‘appointment’.

When she’d gone, he flipped open the plain, white paper printed calendar on the table and stared at the month. Six days. He had six days remaining until the anniversary of that day Sam had caved. Or at least the day he’d been told it happened. He wished he knew why Sam had said ‘yes’.

He knew he’d never know.

Sam’s birthday was hard enough, but the anniversary of his fall? Far worse.

~~~~~~~~~~

“What day is it?” The expression on Castiel’s face told Jo everything she needed to know. It was May twelfth, the anniversary of Sam’s fall. Jo bet Dean would rather just skip May entirely, it being the worst month for him. Sam’s birthday, the anniversary of his fall, and the anniversary of Dean’s own trip to hell. “And you just leave him alone?”

Cas turned down the sheets and bedspread, folding them carefully along the foot of the bed. “He doesn’t want company, Jo. I tried.”

“He might not want company, but he needs it.” She watched him fluff the pillows. He was having Maggie over in a little while and was carefully making all those little preparations he liked to make.

Hands resting flat on the mattress a moment, he looked up at her. “You’re welcome to try. I’ll applaud you if you can get him to let you stay with him until midnight.”

“Why midnight?”

“Because he says midnight means it’s over. Dawn is great but it’s already a new day when it comes. I’ll tell you though, the hardest time of the day is about ten. By then, he’s had the whole day to seethe and wallow in anguish. The pain hits it’s peak.”

With that in mind, Jo took a bottle of Wild Turkey from the shelf above Cas’s pill stash and headed to the pond. She found Dean sitting on the fishing dock staring at the water. He didn’t look up when she walked up beside him. The lid came off the bottle with a quick twist and she crouched down, proffering it. “Penny for your thoughts.”

“What are you doing here, Jo?” He took the bottle, raised it to his mouth, studying her a moment before taking a long drink. It looked like he was assessing her and making some conclusion he didn’t share with her.

She shrugged, sitting beside him. The pond was smooth, with not even a ripple to betray the few fish still in it. “Hey, you brought me here, remember?”

“That I did. Didn’t Cas tell you this isn’t a day I tend to be sociable?”

“He tried, but you know me. I’m persistent.”

“That’s one word you could use.” He tried to hand her the bottle and she refused it.

“Nope, it’s all yours.”

“Thanks.” He shifted position, swirling the liquid in the bottle. “I insist. You plan on staying the next few hours, and I think that is your plan, then you drink with me.”

She drank, but the little swallow she took garnered a derisive stare before he put his fingers beneath the bottle and nudged it up to her mouth again.

“You used to know how to drink whiskey, Jo. What happened? You know the rule: you take a good swallow, not that half-assed dainty sip. You’re not at a tea party or a wine tasting. Gimme a gulp.”

Which would get her smashed quickly. It’d been a long time since she’d taken drinks like he was wanting to do. She’d had a drink occasionally with Cas, or some wine when playing Pitch with Maggie, Alexis, and Emily, but she hadn’t gotten deliberately drunk since she’d been in the camp. “Guess I’m out of practice.”

“Well get back in it quick. It’s only seven. We’ve got five hours to pass until midnight.”

At least she’d had a big dinner that should soak up some of the alcohol and slow it going through her system. Jo settled in for a long evening.

~~~~~~~~~~

While Cas had forgiven Melanie her slip of the tongue, he hadn’t asked her to spend an afternoon or morning alone with him since. He didn’t want to chance hearing Dean’s name at the wrong time again. What a blow to the ego that had been! Not an experience he wanted to relive. To himself, he could admit there was a little jealousy there. After all, he was used to being first in her attention and affection. To find himself being supplanted by Dean, who didn’t even want her sexually, was a bit galling. And confusing. Despite the illustrations Alexis had used, he didn’t really understand Dean’s criteria for acceptable women. Nina over Melanie? Really? Where did the whole screwing a manipulative bitch thing start becoming fun?

He kept waiting for Jo or Alexis to say something to him further on Mel, but neither did. Whatever they thought, they kept it to themselves.

As the days swept by, he missed having Melanie there, so when Jo went off to find Dean, he found Mel and asked her to join him and Maggie. She seemed surprised he was asking and agreed with a little relieved grin. He knew Maggie wouldn’t mind. She was always up for company.

The evening hours progressed in a wholly satisfactory manner and when the alarm beeped for nine-thirty, he got up, showered and dressed, leaving Maggie to do the same and make sure Melanie was awake before midnight. He didn’t want to have to evict her to put Jo to bed. There was no way Dean was going to let Jo get away with not drinking. Castiel suspected he was going to have to carry Jo back to the cabin and watch her all night.

He left the cabin to do the same thing he did every year: keep a watch on Dean from ten to midnight, though this year it was Dean and Jo. He assumed Jo was handling Dean just fine, yet he’d rather be there if she needed help.

Dean’s chosen place this year was the pond. The year before it had been the Impala. He’d made it clear that everyone needed to steer clear of the pond all day. Cas perched on low branches of one tree, the branches forming a surprisingly comfortable seat. From the place there he could see them on the dock and not be seen himself. They appeared to be pacing themselves surprisingly well, what bits of conversation he heard weren’t slurred or rambling at all. He leaned his head back and got comfortable, feeling a little drowsy.

Maybe he’d close his eyes for just a minute.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jo loved everyone. She was feeling very happy right now, a warm glow inside her entire body as she staggered with Dean along the path to their cabins. His arm around her kept her from falling, his hand gripping her belt in a familiar fashion, hauling her back to her feet when she nearly fell.

He led her right up the steps and into her cabin. No…wait…his cabin. That was an actual door he’d opened. They hadn’t gotten tangled in those stupid beads Cas liked. Jo squinted, vision whirling. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it. They were stopped beside Dean’s bed. The covers were rumpled, pillows piled together on one corner. Dean dragged her jacket down her arms and off, then bent, covering her mouth with his own. His tongue darted hot and quick against hers, tasting of the whiskey they’d been drinking.

He developed twelve hands in a matter of seconds, running them all along her body, mouth moving from hers to her neck, then lower, one hand dragging the shoulder of her shirt down and her bra strap with it.

“Mmm…no, Dean, don’t….” Jo raised a hand, placed it on his chest, nearly losing her balance when he yanked her hips hard against him. She shoved at him, twisting her body, beginning to feel nauseated, her stomach flipping inside her belly like there was a rollercoaster ride going on in there. “Let go.”

“Don’t say no, Jo. Please,” he slurred in her ear, releasing her hips, his hands slipping under her shirt. “Need you.”

“No.” She gave him a shove that was enough to extricate herself and make him sit heavily on the end of his bed. “Not gonna happen.” Jo stumbled back, nearly falling again, and made her way towards the door and from the cabin, leaving him there alone. She headed in the basic direction of Cas’s cabin, pausing once to throw up in the grass, which made her feel better almost instantly.

The grass was cool against her hands and she knelt there on all fours for several long minutes, half tempted to just lie down and look up at the sky until she fell asleep. Cas’s wide, comfortable bed called to her though.

Jo pushed to her feet and continued towards the cabin.

~~~~~~~~~~

The cabin was dark and empty when Melanie woke. She had a vague remembrance of Maggie asking her if she was sure she awake enough that Maggie could leave.

I must have fallen asleep again, she thought, reaching for the clock on the floor and squinting at it. It was nearly one in the morning. Where were Cas and Jo? One of them should have rousted her out before now and sent her back to her own cabin. She got up, showered and dressed, expecting to find one of them there when she stepped from the bathroom.

At one-thirty, as she was putting her shoes on, Jo came through the beads, whirling under them, smacking at them and stumbling into the cabin. She lost her balance, falling hard to her knees and laughing as though it was the most hysterically funny thing that had ever happened. She looked up, big silly grin on her face. “Mel! You’re here! Where’s Mags? She still here too?”

“Jo, you’re drunk.” She’d never seen Jo drunk before.

“I’m not drunk. I don’t get drunk. I haven’t been drunk in years.”

“Yeah, you are. You’re…intoxicated.”

“I am so not intoximicated. Inticimicated. Intominicated…. Drunk.” She laughed again, lying down on the rug and spreading her arms out. “Not drunk,” she sang out in an obnoxious loud, grating voice.

The slurred words and excessive amusement belied that claim.

“Dean wanted me to drink whenever he did, like that time we all decided to get Cas blotto. It was an executive decision, see. He was way too uptight then. We were matching shots at first, but then we made him do four to our one,” she got to her feet, carefully pushed her hair from her face, and weaved her way to the bed, “and at last look, my mom was giggling, which means, meant I mean, that she was ready to pass out and that angel was still sober. Like he had special sober powers too, along with the others. I think he ended up putting all of us to bed that night. He drank four accomplished drinkers under the table.” She let out a slow breath, expression shifting to panic. “Oh, fuck, I’m gonna be sick again.”

Melanie scrambled towards her, hauling her to the bathroom and managing to get her there just in time. She held Jo’s hair back and stayed in the bathroom with her until the heaves finally stopped. “Let’s get you to bed, okay?”

She got Jo to brush her teeth, though she had to prop her up, then wrestled her to the bed.

“I’m never drinking again,” Jo announced, one hand on her forehead.

“Cas says that too.” He also usually forgot that sentiment a couple days after the hangover had faded. She found the chemise, looked at Jo, and decided it’d probably be better if she slept in one of Cas’s old t-shirts. Feeling a little uncomfortable about it, she searched one trunk until she found a worn, old shirt and brought it back to Jo. “Let’s get you undressed and --”

“Don’t look.”

“Don’t…what?” The comment didn’t make any sense and she shook her head. “Jo --”

Jo slapped her hands onto Melanie’s shoulders, shaking her head. “Don’t look. Lex says she looks and now I can’t change shirts if she’s anywhere near here. Feels weird. Too weird. Don’t like it. Don’t look.”

“Oh.” Understanding settled in her mind and she nodded. “Okay. I won’t look. Can you put this on by yourself?”

“Course I can.” Jo snatched the shirt up -- it took three tries for her to actually grab the shirt -- and stared at it with her eyes narrowed. “Is this the AC/DC shirt? Because I don’t want to wear that one. I want the one with….” She licked her lips. “…with that band I can’t think of. You know the one.”

“Okay. Yeah.” She took the shirt. “Tell you what: you get undressed and I’ll go look for it.”

“Ooh, good plan!”

Melanie stayed where she was and waited while Jo undressed, being careful not to look at her full on. When a glance revealed Jo was down to her underwear, Melanie held out the shirt. “Here you go.”

Jo drew it on, the peered at it, holding it out. “That’s AC/DC.”

“You said you wanted that one.”

“I….” She let go of the shirt. “I knew that.” One hand pressed against her stomach. “Make it stop, Mel. The room’s spinning.”

She took care of that too, as best she could, giving Jo a big glass of water and a couple pills, then settling her in the bed with her head almost hanging over the side over a bucket.

“I’m going to go check in on Dean and then I’ll be back, okay?”

Jo groaned in response and Melanie headed to Dean’s cabin. She wondered where Cas was. It wasn’t like him to be out this late unless it was for a mission or something like that. Where had he gone while she’d been asleep?

“Dean? Are you okay?” Melanie knocked, received no answer, and went inside the cabin, looking about cautiously. “Dean?” Dean was sprawled on his bed, his shirt and shoes off, jeans undone. It looked like he’d passed out in the middle of undressing himself. She went to him, shaking him a little until he roused. His eyes opened into slits. “Hey, sit up, okay? Let’s get you in bed so you can sleep it off.” It wasn’t like she hadn’t helped Cas before when he was in a similar condition.

Dean struggled to sit, but as she leaned down to help him shift position, his hands raised, grasping her head, mouth latching on to hers. The kiss wasn’t gentle. It was rough and filled with a raw need that was like nothing she’d experienced with Cas. This was an entire new level and she froze, unsure just what to do.

This was from the alcohol, she knew it was, could taste it on his tongue and smell it on his skin. He hadn’t even tried to kiss her before now. It was only the alcohol, which wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted him sober; wanted him to really want her and not because he was drunk.

She decided to pull away, but it was too late.

His hands moved, lowering, tugging on her blouse, ripping it, the fragile fabric parting and the buttons popping loose under the force of the hard jerk. He pulled her against him, lean fingers first on her ribs, then sliding around to her back, Melanie losing her balance. They tipped back, his mouth on hers again, and while she tried to regain her balance, doing so was impossible when his hands moved all over her. He wasn’t gentle there either, gripping her hips and rear hard, hauling her up astride him, but no sooner had he gotten her in that position, than he flipped them over. His weight came down on top of her, breath hot against her ear….

He passed out, body going slack above her, leaving her stuck under his weight. No amount of shoving budged him.

She laid beneath him, disillusionment setting in the longer she was stuck there.

~~~~~~~~~~

Cas woke in alarm, squinting at his watch. Neither Dean nor Jo were there anymore and it was after two. He’d slept in the tree for nearly four hours. He slid from his perch in the tree, stretched enough to work the kink from his back, and went in search of them. He found Jo in their cabin, put to bed all nice and neat, with a bucket on the floor by her head. Heading for Dean’s cabin, he almost expected the same thing.

What he did find, however, was Melanie trapped beneath Dean. She waved a hand at him, her panic evident.

“Cas! Help! I can’t move him and I have to go pee!”

Going to the bed, he yanked Dean off her. Dean didn’t even make a sound, completely limp in his grasp. “What are you doing here, Melanie?” The question came out harsher than he’d intended and he dragged Dean up so his head was on the pillows. Dean muttered something, but it was unintelligible.

Melanie scrambled from the bed and hurried into the bathroom.

He took the moments she was in there to finish undressing Dean and cover him up, turning him onto his side and shoving a blanket against his back. Better safe than sorry. There was a trashcan by the table that he brought over and estimated a good place for it.

When she returned, she said, “Well, I helped Jo to bed and thought I’d check in on Dean since they were drinking. I didn’t expect him to grab me, throw me on the bed, and pass out on me.”

Her shirt was ruined, ripped up, the buttons mostly gone, two hanging by threads. Cas sat on the end of the bed and watched her. “What happened? Exactly?”

She pulled the edges of her blouse together, teeth grazing her lower lip. “He…he kissed me, tore my blouse open, and grabbed me. He wouldn’t let go and then he just passed out.”

“Did you try saying no?”

Melanie swallowed hard and shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “I didn’t.”

Cas sighed. “You know, you are allowed to say ‘no’. It’s an acceptable word.”

“It happened in, like, thirty seconds, Cas! And he was strong, too. He just….” She was upset, but not in the way he expected, making a noise of exasperation and disappointment. “He groped me. Like one of those jerks out there in the camp. I’ve been groped before, not by you, because you don’t grope like that, but out there at the campfires sometimes. Groped. He groped me. And I liked this blouse, Cas. It’s not repairable. He ruined it.”

With a jolt, he realized Dean had toppled himself from that pedestal Melanie had put him on in recent days and she was working herself up into a snit over it.

I don’t believe I’m about to say this, he thought. “Keep in mind that alcohol changes things, Melanie. Dean’s not usually like that with women unless that’s what they both want.”

“Oh yeah? How do you know that?” She crossed her arms.

“Because I know Dean and know him well.” He stood. “Come on. Let’s leave Dean to sleep it off.”

It didn’t take much to convince her to leave. Castiel took her to his cabin, checking on Jo, who was still in the same position she’d been in when he’d left to look in on Dean, making that odd choking sound that was her snore. She always denied snoring and usually only did it when she was exhausted.

They sat on the couch, Melanie wrapping her arms about her legs and resting her chin on her knees. When he’d stretched out in a comfortable position, she cleared her throat. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“When Jo came in, she started telling me this story about trying to get you drunk.”

“Did she?”

“She said it was like you had special sober powers along with others and….” She stared at him, eyes wide. “She called you an angel.”

“Did she,” he repeated, crossing his ankles and glancing over at Jo. He wasn’t upset that she’d let that slip. It didn’t particularly bother him for anyone to know, but Dean thought that that truth, and Cas’s current lifestyle choices contrasting it, might bother the religious people in the camp, so it wasn’t common knowledge. “Well, I did put all of them to bed that night.”

“That’s not how she meant it.”

“How did she mean it?” He returned her stare with a calm one of his own.

The certainty in her eyes faded as Cas waited. He could see her puzzling out Jo’s story, wondering if Jo had just been completely soused and choosing her words funny because of that. “It’s silly, I guess, isn’t it? An angel would hardly do some of the things you do.”

“An angel wouldn’t, no.” But he wasn’t an angel any longer. He was mortal, human.

He sent Melanie to her cabin and remained awake the rest of the night, keeping that watch over Jo he’d known would be needed.