Title: Consequences of Action

Chapter: 5

~~~~~~~~~~

They were called one by one to give their testimonies, all of the angels waiting in a line.

Gabriel had gone first, showing no fear or even anxiety, the sort of example Michael knew that he himself should be. Still, he couldn’t help pacing as the line slowly moved forward, casting glances towards the veil covering their view of the earth. The longer it remained in place, the higher Michael’s anxiety.

They weren’t allowed to see what was happening or hear anything.

Without being able to see, how would he know if Dean Winchester needed him? Or rather, how would he know if Dean wanted to accept him? He was blind and deaf to the events on earth. Up to the point they’d been called home, he’d been listening for that call and with Sam Winchester having accepted Lucifer, there was only one way now to stop him or finish the Apocalypse. Dean would have to accept him for either. Did Dean realize it yet? Perhaps it could have been different once…. He blinked. Don’t think on what might have been, he told himself.

Michael found himself actually worrying about it, imagining that Dean must be feeling very helpless at this point, being unable to stop Lucifer’s takeover of the planet. Had he accepted that fact? Or was he already dead?

They weren’t allowed to look through heaven either, essentially on house arrest.

It wasn’t that he cared about humans particularly, only that he’d made a promise and was currently unable to fulfill it or even his duty in the Apocalypse, no matter how it had started. Even if Dean called, Michael was unable to answer and that bothered him. Dean already didn’t trust angels and if he called and Michael didn’t answer, that distrust would deepen and then where would the world be? Lucifer would continue to run amok.

He sighed and watched Zachariah slip back in line further and further until he was near the end. Interesting. Why was Zachariah bothering? He’d reach the throne eventually anyway. Wasn’t it better to face his actions than attempt to put it off?

“Now there’s someone who won’t win employee of the millennia.” Gabriel appeared beside him, arms crossed, still in that meatsuit. “He knows he’s committed a hanging offense.”

“Does he?” Could Gabriel actually have a fondness for that human body? Curiosity pricked at Michael. He wanted answers for something and soon.

“Oh yeah. Zach’s got a one-way ticket to the Lake of Fire, just like half our brethren.”

“Half? Isn’t that being pessimistic?” At Gabriel’s shrug, he continued. “Perhaps one-third maybe, but not half I don’t believe. What about you, Gabriel? Where are you going? Are you bound for fire or a new assignment?”

He arched a brow. “I’m going wherever I’m told at present and right now, I’m going to sit over there in that comfortable chair,” with a snap of his fingers, one appeared, “and watch the show.”

“How can you be so calm? We will be disciplined.”

“I’m calm because I’m forgiven. I asked, He gave, and all I have to do now is accept the consequences of my actions.”

“You ran away,” Michael reminded him.

He sat in that chair, a large glass with a tiny umbrella and slices of fruit dangling over the rim materializing in his hand. “I returned when He called me. I didn’t have to be dragged like some.”

“You refused to take a side.”

“Is that what you think?” Gabriel snorted, took a sip of his drink, and shook his head. “Look at me, Mike. Look very closely at what you see. Do you really think I didn’t take any side at all?”

Michael stared at his brother and thought about that statement. Gabriel had not sided with the angels, nor had he sided with Lucifer. What other side was there? “Of the two sides, you chose neither. You ran away rather than choose.”

“You’re still not seeing it. I chose door number three!” A door with the number three on it briefly appeared in the air before them.

He couldn’t fathom what Gabriel meant by that. “Door number three,” he repeated.

Now Gabriel rolled his eyes. “I’d forgotten how humorless it can be up here. How you can be that dim actually surprises me. The humans, Mike. I chose the humans and I tell you, they’re a lot easier to live with than you lot up here. Sure, they may bicker and squabble, but they make up for that in so many ways, some rather delicious.”

“The humans.” He went back to watching the line and Zachariah’s quick-step towards the back of it, his sigh long and drawn out. “I don’t understand you, Gabriel.”

It was a refrain Michael would utter many times as they waited there together.

“Don’t feel too bad about that, Mike. Not many do.” He conjured up another glass. “Here. Try this while we wait.”

“I don’t require refreshment.”

“Humor me.” He held out the glass.

After a moment, Michael took it, studying the fruit and the slushy contents. “I’ve always humored you, Gabriel.” He took a sip. “It’s…sweet and tart at the same time.”

“It’s good is what it is. Relax awhile. Take a load off. We’ve got some time yet before you’ll be called in. Would you like to hear about a feisty vixen I knew once?”

Michael sighed. “If I must.”

Gabriel started talking, a long convoluted story primarily featuring a human woman, and Michael let himself relax the barest of fractions. Gabriel was right. It would be awhile and until then, he could let all of his growing tension and worry slip away.

~~~~~~~~~~

It seemed that as soon as Jo laid down on Dean’s comfortable couch, she was asleep. If she dreamed during the hours she slept, she didn’t remember any of it, waking in the same position she’d fallen asleep in. She felt better rested and even contemplated letting herself slip back to sleep once more. Curiosity about the camp gripped her though and she turned her head on the pillow.

Dean was across the room watching the tv, sitting in a blue fold-up reclining chair that had a footrest and looked like a recliner. Jo smiled as she looked over his set-up. While she’d noticed it earlier, she hadn’t really studied it. Dean would lift a state of the art enormous screen tv to have here.

“What are you watching,” she asked, getting up and going over to him. The tv took up one section of the wall.

He paused the program. “Dead Like Me.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a cult series about this chick who dies in a freak accident and become a Reaper.”

“A Reaper?”

He looked up at her. “A Grim Reaper. Sending souls on --”

“I know what one is, Dean.”

“Oh. Well, the series is kind of quirky, though none of them are really anything like Tessa.” He said the name with an almost fond inflection.

Tessa? Jo ran a hand through her hair. “Who is Tessa?”

Returning his gaze to the tv, he stopped the DVD altogether and shut down the entire system. “Tessa was a Reaper -- still is as far as I know. I met her a few times.”

“Aren’t Reapers supposed to be invisible to people who aren’t --”

“Dying? Yeah. I’ve been dead several times, Jo. You know that. Tessa was just doing her job.”

She’d wondered if Reapers were real. Plenty of other things she’d read about were, so why not them too? Now that Dean had confirmed it, she wondered…. “Do you think there was one there for my mom?”

He sat up in the chair, setting the remotes aside. “Sure. Might even have been Tessa. She got around.” He got up and folded the chair up, putting it on the corner beside a red one. “Before we head off in a tour, there’s someone I want you to meet. Would you be cool with that?”

Jo saw apprehension in his eyes, as though he wasn’t sure how she’d react to the person he wished to introduce. Had to be the woman who lived here with him. “Sure.” She jerked a thumb to the bathroom. “Okay if I freshen up first?”

“Go right ahead.”

When she came from the bathroom and returned to the couch, she noticed a woman waiting just inside the door to the outside. It was the woman Dean had called Risa earlier when he’d been talking to Castiel. She was tall, slim, with dark hair and an exotic air.

Jo expected to hear that she was Dean’s live-in girlfriend. The word ‘wife’ threw her for a moment.

Dean Winchester was married. Dean of all people.

But the more Jo thought about it, the more it fit. Why not Dean? He’d always had a thing for family, as long as she’d known him. It made sense that, eventually, he’d want to marry and have a family.

She congratulated them and concentrated on getting Risa talking. Once Jo would have had a difficult time with that, but she’d learned a lot on the road with Ellen. She’d do anything she could to put Risa at ease because Dean wanted them to like each other. Because Jo loved Dean, she’d try to make that happen. It wasn’t a romantic love, though she’d thought once it could develop into that. Rather, it was the love one has for a friend. Dean had a special place in her heart and always would.

Risa’s face seemed to glow as she talked, her happiness with Dean apparent, and when Jo glanced up at Dean, she saw that same happiness reflected there on his face. It pleased her to see him happy. He deserved to have something right in his life for once after all the crap he’d had to go through over the years.

At Dean’s comment that Castiel would be meeting them, Jo was ready to go, excited at the prospect of seeing him again.

~~~~~~~~~~

Kylie Carrington didn’t really care if Cas saw her again or not. He was great and all, but he was just a fun time for her, not something permanent. Nor did she care if he saw Natalie or Carrie. Those two didn’t have the power to keep him anyway. What she cared about was that her friend Vanessa was going to be supplanted by some blond slut he’d just met. Vanessa deserved to have him all to herself. It was just a fact. Van was, like, perfect for him.

She studied Jo Harvelle with a critical eye and tucked her hair behind her ears. In her opinion, Jo didn’t have what it took to hook Castiel. Besides, she looked like she was almost thirty. Thirty was the kiss of death. “You have nothing to worry about,” she told Vanessa, who was still crying after Castiel had talked with her an hour earlier.

Kylie had eavesdropped on the talk and actually been shocked at how he’d just come out and told Vanessa. He hadn’t sugar-coated it or anything, just said he didn’t want to see her anymore and that was that. There’d been no explanation or anything, not even a generic ‘let’s be friends’. For a nice guy, Castiel certainly hadn’t been nice. He knew Vanessa was sensitive. He knew she needed soft words and a gentle attitude. So why had he done it with the bulldozer approach?

It was that Jo woman. She’d, like, bewitched him or something.

Vanessa wiped her eyes. They were bloodshot and when she spoke, it was with a nasally tone. “Really? You think so?”

“Nothing to worry about?” Natalie crossed her arms and snorted. “Are you hearing this, Carrie? She thinks he’s going to have a change of heart.”

The look the two women exchanged infuriated her, like they knew with absolute certainty that he’d never change his mind. He could though. He was a guy and guys did things like that all the time. “Who asked you anyway,” Kylie snapped. “This Jo person…. She’s the flavor of the month. That’s all. When he tires of her, and he will because he always does, he’ll come back to Vanessa.”

Carrie took her headband from her pale blond hair and slid it back on, adjusting her ponytail. “Did it occur to either of you that maybe it’s us he’s tired of?”

Vanessa gasped. “How can you say that? We’ve all been very good to him. In more ways than one. I mean, I was a virgin.”

Natalie snorted. “In thought maybe.”

“I was,” Vanessa insisted. “Nicky Bickerstaff when I was seventeen doesn’t count. He was a boy compared to Cas. I was so still a virgin when Nicky was done.”

Carrie snickered. “Right. It doesn’t count when you’re seventeen and stupidly let your prom date in your pants then regret it later.”

“Exactly. I couldn’t let Nicky count, so I decided I was a virgin again and it never happened.” She crossed her arms.

Now Carrie rolled her eyes.

Even Kylie had to admit Vanessa’s reasoning on that one was worthy of a good eye roll. Sex was sex and when it happened it couldn’t simply be covered over and forgotten.

Carrie cleared her throat. “Repeat after me: he’s tired of us.”

“You’re not funny,” Kylie told her.

“Ugh. I wasn’t trying to be. I met Jo a little bit ago on the path and you know what? She’s nice. She’s a friend of Dean’s from way back and I guess Cas knows her from then, too. So it’s not like she’s some stranger to him. There’s a history and I think it’s great that they’re hooking up and that he thinks he can be happy with her.” Carrie shook her head and turned. “I’ll catch you later, Nat. Tearing down others doesn’t really appeal to me.” She strode off towards the shooting range.

Kylie returned her attention to Jo. Grudgingly, she had to admit that Jo appeared to be more confident in her own skin than Vanessa and was at ease with Cas, Dean, and Risa all at the same time, but did that really matter? Did it matter that Cas was looking at Jo in a way he’d never looked at Van? Or any of them? He watched Jo Harvelle like she was the only woman in the entire world.

With a sinking feeling, she realized that, yes, it did matter.

Castiel had turned over a new leaf.

A monogamous one.

And she didn’t think Vanessa could compete with Jo after all.

~~~~~~~~~~

The memories of their night together remained with Jo all afternoon, replaying over and over in her mind in a tumultuous swirl. He stayed close during that tour of the camp, the ‘accidental’ brush of his body against hers sending shivers of weakness through her body. Jo was certain her knees were going to collapse and she’d fall against him, melting into a puddle of quivering need. His eyes spoke volumes without him saying a single word. All it took to make her blush was a single long heated glance.

He still wanted her as much as she wanted him, the only thing holding them in check were Dean and Risa. Their presence kept Jo and Castiel from jumping each other. It had to be obvious. No, more than obvious. Castiel couldn’t keep his hands to himself, primarily keeping a hand on her rear when he stood behind her. He also kept touching her back and sides and taking one of her hands in his as they walked. He behaved the way she noticed Dean and Risa behaving ahead of them on the path. A few times, Castiel leaned down and kissed that spot behind her ear.

It almost seemed like he was laying public claim upon her, getting the message across right away that she was out of bounds.

“Here.” He stopped in front of one cute little cabin, his fingers hooking through one of her belt loops and making Jo stop as well.

“Here what?”

Dean and Risa turned, surprise on Dean’s face. “That was fast,” he remarked.

“There wasn’t much to do,” Castiel answered, stretching out a hand and opening the door. “Your cabin, Jo. All spiffed up and ready for you to move in.”

She looked from him to Dean and Risa, then back to him. “Mine? Are you serious?”

Risa nodded. “Looks like you don’t have to spend the night with us after all.” There was the tiniest bit of relief in her dark eyes.

Jo went up the three wooden steps and inside. Only Castiel followed her, the door shutting behind them. The cabin was a single room, about the size of her bedroom growing up, furnished and ready. She noted the rug on the floor that matched the curtains in bright colors and the dark purple bedspread, and smiled, turning all the way around to take it all in. “Those curtains are great!”

“You like it?” He crossed his arms, a pleased grin stretching his lips, delight in his eyes.

“Are you kidding? Cas, I love it!” Moving forward, she went to the table and picked up the candle, sniffing it. Cinnamon. The scent brought back good, pleasant memories of her childhood and Jo took a final sniff before setting it back down and facing him. “Did you do all of this for me?”

“Yes.”

“How did you know what I’d like, because I can’t see Dean knowing my favorite colors or what kind of scented candles I like.”

“Does it matter?”

Did it? The end result pleased her. Was it relevant how he’d discovered the information? Maybe he’d coaxed information from Mya. She shrugged. “I guess not.”

“Good.”

He came to her, hands grasping her hips, drawing her close. His mouth came down on hers, forceful and insistent. Jo raised her hands to push at his chest and pretend to be protesting, but her efforts lasted merely seconds as heat of desire flooded her body. He caught her wrists in his hands. She pressed her body against his, turning her wrists in his light grip until it loosened further and she could put her arms about his neck. The kiss deepened, Cas sliding his hands around to her rear, holding her to him.

She wanted to forget the rest of the tour, shut out Dean and Risa, and see if her new bed was comfortable.

Castiel pulled back and, with a glance behind her out the window, swung her around so that she was against the wall. One hand did a tour of her curves, his gaze on hers, a heated caress that warmed her as much as his wandering hand did. There were promises in his blue eyes that she wanted to collect very soon.

She ran her fingertips up and down the back of his neck, sliding them up into his hair. “How dare you accost me like this, with Dean and Risa right outside.”

“Do you really think their presence would keep you safe from me?” That hand slid to her breasts, his touch just firm enough to feel and she shivered. “We had a deal. I simply wanted to remind you of that fact.” He slipped his hand further up, to her neck, thumb then sweeping across her cheek.

“How could I forget it?”

“It’s not so much thinking you’ll forget, but that you’ll try to avoid fulfilling it.” His brows rose.

“I’ll uphold my end.” She did her own tour of his chest and sides, hands ending against his lower back, pressing to get him to step closer. He obliged her.

“Don’t get so caught up in settling into camp routine that you forget our…date tomorrow night. I’d hate to have to chase you down over the next two to three days.” With a last brush of his lips to hers, Castiel stepped back, releasing her. “They’ll be wondering what we’re doing in here.” If she’d any doubt as to how she affected him, it was there on his face. His cheekbones had an added bit of color to them and there were a few drops of sweat on his brow.

Jo smoothed her hair, her hands shaking a fraction, and tried to think cool, which was difficult when one quick caress had her recalling the previous night and yearning for more. “I’ll bet Dean would have a few ideas.”

“More than a few,” he agreed, taking a couple more steps away, his hands resting on his hips. “You really like the cabin?”

“I do. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He held out a hand. “We should finish the tour.”

She took it.

~~~~~~~~~~

It was entirely possible that, given time, Risa could like Jo Harvelle. She contemplated that and decided it’d be nice to have a close female friend again. Once, she’d had several, friendships that had been formed in college and in the workplace. None of her friends had survived the virus and Risa, determined to survive, hadn’t been the sort of woman other women wanted to befriend. She had no patience for fools and knew many of the women in the camp disliked her for various reasons.

Some hated that she was Dean’s wife. Others hated that she was proficient with weapons. And still others just hated her because she had little patience for the stupid games women played with each other. There were probably other reasons, but she didn’t particularly care what they were.

Sometimes, Risa wanted a friend who’d understand about her life and about her husband. Maybe Jo could be that friend. She’d lived the life, grown up in it from what Risa could glean of Dean and Castiel’s stories of her and her mother. Plus, Jo knew Dean.

Risa leaned against Dean while they waited for Castiel and Jo to finish in the cabin, sliding a hand up beneath his jacket and t-shirt to rub the muscles on his lower back the way he liked. “He sure worked fast,” she remarked. “I thought it’d take more than a couple hours to get one of these ready.” She wasn’t just referring to the cabin with the comment on working fast. She’d seen him swoop in on a girl before, but never with the focus he put on Jo. Every time she’d looked over at him, she’d seen ample evidence that he’d already fallen for Jo.

“When Cas wants something, he works to get it.”

“And he wants her.” There was evidence also that Jo wanted him. Facing Dean, Risa added her other hand to the first, really digging in to the tense muscles.

“Yup.” He put his arms around her. “Mmm. Baby, you know what I like. A little higher….” Dean sighed. “Right there.”

“Since we’re going to be alone tonight after all, I’ll do a better job then and maybe we can pull out that little outfit you picked up for me?”

“French maid or naughty nurse?”

“You’ve had a long, tough week. You pick.”

He made a noise of approval. “You’re a good wife. Have I mentioned that today?”

“I could hear it again.” Glancing at the window, she saw Castiel step to Jo and pull her to him, leaning down to kiss her. It almost looked like Jo protested, but then she was embracing him in return. Risa jerked her chin towards the window. “Hey, look. Cas and Jo, sittin’ in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g….”

Dean turned his head and chuckled. “Go, Cas.” He loosed her from his embrace. “Bet they’ll be doing a helluva lot more than kissing later.”

“Do you think they’d mind if we ditched them and spent the evening alone? Eat in our cabin, play around a little….”

“I think you read my mind.” As Castiel and Jo stepped from the cabin, Dean called out, “Hey, Cas. You mind finishing up the tour? Something came up and we need to go take care of it.”

Within an hour, they were oblivious to the rest of the camp, their door firmly closed to shut it all out.

~~~~~~~~~~

With Dean and Risa hurrying off together, probably to their cabin if he was reading their expressions right, it was up to Castiel to finish the tour they’d started. “Three guesses what came up and the first two don’t count.”

“They seem happy together,” Jo replied.

“They are. I don’t think Dean’s ever been as happy as he is with her. She just gets him.”

“That’s good, since she’s his wife.”

“It is.” He took her hand in his, twining their fingers together. Her hand felt right and perfect in his. “Shall we finish the tour?”

“Is there much left to see?”

“There’s a little.” He was of half a mind to take her out to one of his favorite solitary spots in the woods, but not, he decided, with Kylie and Vanessa following them. He noticed the two young women as he and Jo started back down the path. It would be embarrassing for all of them if Ky and Van stumbled upon he and Jo in a compromising position out in the woods.

Jimmy, Natalie, and Carrie had all been correct. Vanessa was devastated, or at least pretended she was, her flood of instant tears as he’d spoken with her making him extremely uncomfortable. She’d begged, pleaded, and made such a scene in that cabin she shared with Kylie, that he’d suddenly remembered how young she really was. She was barely in her twenties, hardly more than a teenager. What had he been thinking when he’d started seeing her?

It’s not what you were thinking, but what you were thinking with, Jimmy piped up.

He ignored both Jimmy and the two young women behind them, pleased with what he’d accomplished thus far. He’d cleaned and readied that cabin for Jo and cleared his life of any obstacles between them. Not bad for approximately four hours total.

Jo glanced behind them. “We’re being followed.”

“Kylie and Vanessa. I think they’re curious about you.”

“I think if looks could kill we’d both be dead,” she observed with a raised brow.

“We would, yes. Vanessa was upset when I spoke with her and Kylie is upset because Van is.”

“Introduce me?”

Castiel laughed and shook his head. “Uh…not today. It wouldn’t be a good idea.”

She smiled. “I was kidding. So, what’s left on this tour? Your cabin perhaps? I haven’t seen that yet.”

“Then we’re going the wrong way. My cabin is about a stone’s throw from yours. It’s the big one off to one side back in the clearing.”

“Convenient.”

“Very and no, you’re not seeing my cabin just yet. Two or three days of chasing, or until we can’t stand it anymore, and then you’ll see it. I promise.” He loosed her hand in order to put his arm around her. Jo reciprocated, slipping her arm about his waist.

He showed her the shed where Dean kept the Impala. It was under lock and key, kept covered by a tarp in hopes that someday, somehow, Dean would be able to drive it again. Seeing the car carefully sheltered always felt to Cas like a visit to a holy place. That car had been so much to Dean and he’d lovingly put it away when it was apparent he needed something bigger with hauling capability.

“What does he drive now,” Jo asked, frowning.

“A suburban.”

“It seems…wrong somehow for him to drive anything but the Impala.”

“Sign of the times we live in, Jo. I never thought I’d be driving at all and look at me now. I once found the very idea ridiculous.”

She tugged him away so their backs were to the shed. “Just because that’s how it is, doesn’t mean it’s right.”

The rest of the tour was completed with little conversation.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jo ate dinner with Rick and Mya, the only two who’d ventured out of the cabins. The rest were either resting or wary of the people in the camp. Rick had already made a fast friend with someone named Yeager and Mya couldn’t rave enough about the camp.

“It’s like paradise after what we’ve been through. Running water, hot food, beds with sheets and pillows….”

“The Promised Land,” Jo said with a smile and stirred her pasta. Dean hadn’t been kidding about the deer meat. The sauce had chunks of venison.

“Feels like. I’d almost forgotten what a real shower is like.” Mya peered around the room.

It was only half full. Dean and Risa were having dinner together in their cabin and Cas had gone to make the rounds of Jo’s people and see if any could be coaxed into socializing. He’d argued that if he could tell them she was out and about, they might be inclined to come out just to see how she was. Once they saw she was fine, they’d come out. Jo had her doubts. She knew she was going to have to visit each one tomorrow.

“Dean and Risa came around to meet us earlier.” Rick added butter to a slice of still warm bread.

“I got a good vibe off of both of them,” Mya added.

“Yeah? How about Castiel? You get a good vibe off of him?” Jo expected an immediate resounding ‘yes’. After all, Cas had been an angel and one of the good guys. What could Mya get besides a good vibe?

A shadow seemed to cross her pretty face. “You want the truth, because I know he’s a friend of yours.”

“Of course.”

She glanced at Rick. “I can’t read him at all. He feels too old to me and weird, like he’s both old and young at the same time, but not all the time. Not saying he doesn’t have a good vibe, I just can’t get past the sensation.”

Jo put down her fork and waited. “What sensation?”

“It’s almost like a hum of power -- you know, like what a fridge makes? Only it’s barely there, a buzzing against my skin. It’s…weird. I’ve never felt anything like it.” She shook her head. “I can’t really explain it.”

Did Castiel have any of his powers? She decided to ask Dean or Cas later. If he had a little, it’d explain Mya’s feeling.

They ate slowly and watched the dining hall fill up around them. Occasionally, people would stop and introduce themselves.

Castiel had indeed done what he’d promised and told the four women he’d been seeing that he didn’t want to see them anymore. She knew he had because it really had been all over the camp by dinnertime. Jo had caught more than a few curious stares directed her way and overheard some of the speculation. It amused her to hear the ideas that people came up with. Jo heard one person say that she was Castiel’s long-lost love, inventing an entire history while Jo sipped at a cup of after-dinner coffee.

She finished her coffee and headed for her cabin. It was nice to be able to walk without fear of attack. Jo took her time, studying everything out of habit. While parts were overgrown with grass and weeds, some parts were neat, the grass mowed by an old manual lawnmower that was old enough to be an antique. She passed Castiel’s cabin, noted there weren’t any lights on and continued on to her own cabin.

Jo got ready for bed and turned out the light. It was only eight o’clock, but she was dead tired. She slept almost fourteen hours that first night in the camp, waking only because Dean, worried that she wasn’t awake, sent Risa to check on her.

~~~~~~~~~~

Castiel played the role of pursuer that Jo had assigned him, saying those things that went with their scenario. She wanted to be chased, pursued, and persuaded to fulfill the terms of an agreement he’d never really hold her to. He was quite familiar with such games, having played them several times before.

And so he watched her when she was near, gave her the sense that he was waiting to get her alone. When he did get her alone…her reaction was all flirtation. A smile quickly masked, pleasure in her eyes that she couldn’t hide, and a breathless quality to her voice.

She’d picked up his suggestion in her cabin that she pretend to avoid him, giving him a perfect excuse to chase her like she really wanted.

~~~~~~~~~~

On sunny afternoons, Dean preferred to take his lunch outside and sit at one picnic bench by the laundry. Usually, he ate with Cas or Risa, but Risa was busy at the shooting range and had taken her sandwich with her. Castiel claimed he wasn’t hungry -- for food. Dean opened a packet of potato chips and emptied it onto his plate. He’d given up on conversation with Castiel. Cas was too busy watching Jo help Mya put sheets on a clothesline to say much.

“You know, it’s probably a good thing he wasn’t there,” Cas said, hands in his pockets.

“Who? What are you talking about?”

“Lucifer. The other day. The big, special mission that was a bust. It’s probably a good thing he wasn’t there.”

Dean sighed. “Probably.”

“We all would have gotten killed.”

“Yup.”

“One of these days, he’ll be where we’re told and we will die. It’s inevitable. He’ll tire of taunting us, of taunting you, and we’ll met our rest, so…why do we go without the Colt into potential traps?”

He glanced Cas’s way. Castiel knew why. Dean had wanted to see what Lucifer had left for them this time and maybe catch a glimpse of him. Of what was left of Sam. When the Colt hadn’t been there, they’d both known it was another taunt in a long list of similar taunts. They’d found empty streets and evidence that Lucifer had been there sometime, but no trap, no glimpse of Lucifer himself -- just another demon waiting to be captured for information. Another breadcrumb on the trail Lucifer left for them.

“You know why.”

“Sure, but does Risa?”

Tension slid across Dean’s shoulders and down his spine like the caressing hand of a lover. Not this again. “No, she doesn’t.”

“She has no idea that we always go, despite not having the Colt, because Sam is Lucifer’s vessel?”

“No idea.”

“Does she even know who Sam is?”

“Give me some credit, Cas. She knows who Sam was, not who he is now.”

“Don’t you think you’d better tell her? That’s a pretty big secret to keep from your wife.”

It was the mention of the word ‘wife’ that tipped him off. “Piss off, Jimmy.” Jimmy was big on passing marriage advice to him through Castiel. When Dean had asked Cas to stand up with him during the ceremony, Jimmy had insisted on imparting his pearls of marriage wisdom, of which there were many. Sometimes, Dean even took some of that advice.

“He’s right,” Cas said, head turning to stare at him. But only briefly. He was far more interested in looking at Jo.

“Yeah? Well he can still piss off. And so can you.”

“He told Amelia everything about me even though he knew she’d think it crazy. He did it because he didn’t want any secrets between them.”

“Bully for him.”

“How do you think she’ll feel when she realizes that Jo -- a woman you haven’t seen in years -- knows the truth and knew it long before she did?”

“Jo knew because she and Ellen were there right when it happened.” Jo and Ellen had been of the very few hunters who’d managed to come out of the fight in Detroit alive. One of these days, he might even ask Jo how that had happened. How had she and Ellen walked right out without a single scratch on either of them?

“Will Risa have that information?” He made an almost purring noise when Jo bent over to take another item from the basket. Dean had to agree the sight was a nice one, her jeans just tight enough. After a minute, Castiel continued. “How did you keep Risa from storming in the other day?”

Dean smiled a little. “I talked to her about it before I did it.”

“Will wonders never cease?”

“Hey, old dogs can learn new tricks. Sometimes I do take Jimmy’s advice.”

“Uh-huh.”

Mya turned and headed back into the laundry.

Castiel made another weird noise, “I’ll catch you later, Dean,” and started forward.

“Where are you going?”

“To get some sugar,” was his lecherous reply.

Dean rolled his eyes. “You’ve been hanging out with me too long.”

A chuckle drifted back to him and Cas followed Jo behind one large sheet. A second later, Dean heard her laugh. He shook his head and turned his attention to his lunch.