Title: Lessons Lacking and Learned

Act II:

“You have no experience.”

“No.”

“None at all?”

“No.”

“Not even a kiss?”

He didn’t think the prostitute counted, since he hadn’t kissed her. Castiel sat on the end of Jo’s bed. She wasn’t sharing a room with her mother, of which he was glad. He didn’t know if he could handle his own curious speculation of which bed Ellen slept in, what she wore to bed, which clothes were hers and….

And now he was thinking about Ellen. Sweat trickled down his temple. Raising one hand, he flicked those drops away. He was having no trouble picturing Ellen naked. None at all. It was similar to that moment in the bar with Jo, where he’d had this image of her right there in his mind.

“My answer hasn’t changed since you asked the first time,” he told Jo, perhaps a bit more tersely than he’d planned.

“So you’re a serious total virgin?”

She came to stand in front of him. Sitting here, his eyes were right on level with her breasts. They were still rather nice breasts, he realized. Firm. Perky. Perky? He had to swallow twice with a throat that felt horribly dry in order to get enough saliva to make his answer come out. “Yes.”

“What about your body? The host, I mean. Do I understand that right? This body isn’t really yours? It’s like possession and you’re just in residence?”

“That’s correct under normal circumstances, but it’s my body now. Jimmy moved on when Raphael killed me. When I was brought back, I came back alone. It’s only me in here.”

“So was he?”

“Was he what?” He was having trouble concentrating now. Surely that wasn’t a part of attraction as well? It must be, he decided. It’d explain the way he’d seen some men behaving with women, Dean included.

And why couldn’t he hear her thoughts anymore? He could earlier, so why not now?

“I really hope you’re not usually this dense, Cas.” Jo ran a hand through her long hair, then placed her hands on her hips. “Was he a virgin, too?”

“Jimmy had a wife and daughter.”

“Okay. It’s just you then.”

“Yes.”

She nodded, as though he’d fully assuaged her curiosity on the matter. “I can work with that. Stand up.”

She made him take off his coat and suit jacket first. Those he could understand. It was what people did. Sam and Dean took off their jackets. He’d seen them. Next were his shoes and socks.

“Why the socks, too,” he asked.

“Why not,” Jo replied. “You got something against taking off your socks?”

Cas looked at his bare feet, studied them.

“Why are you looking at them like you’ve never seen them before?”

He tried for nonchalance now that it was too late, wiggling his toes and looking up at her. “Because I haven’t.”

“Are you telling me you’ve never looked at your own bare feet?”

“I’ve never needed to.”

“Right. Stand back up.”

Apparently unsatisfied with that much, Jo scrutinized him with pursed lips and narrowed eyes. Stretching her hands to him, she tugged his tie away and tossed it over her shoulder, then reached for his belt.

“I’d rather you didn’t…” he began, but Jo worked fast, dragging the belt free from the loops and dropping it with his coat and jacket. “Um…okay.”

“Isn’t it uncomfortable wearing a suit all the time?”

Her hands raised again, slipping another button open on his shirt. Her fingertips grazed bare skin, hands dropping again to tug his shirt loose at the waist. This time the touch of her fingers on his skin was longer, dragging along his waist in a way that increased his discomfort. Cas’s next breath was a gasp.

“No.” Without the excess clothes, Castiel felt vulnerable. He hadn’t anticipated that sensation.

“You have other clothes though, right?”

Casting a glance at his jacket and coat, crumpled on the floor where she’d tossed them, he shook his head. “No. These clothes are serviceable. I’ve not needed others.”

“Huh. There. All relaxed and casual. Sort of.” Jo shrugged, gesturing to the bed. “Make yourself comfortable. I’m going to change clothes.” Stretching a hand out, she took the remote for the tv off the dresser and handed it to him. “Find something to watch.”

Cas sat as she gathered a few items. “I shouldn’t have lied to Dean. It was wrong to do so.”

Jo paused in the bathroom doorway. Her mischievous grin made the bottom of his stomach feel like it had just dropped to his knees. “You don’t know if it’s a lie or not. It’s not morning yet. You could still have a good time.”

He stared at her, gulped once. After a moment, her grin faded and she frowned.

“Yeah…okay. Relax, Cas. I won’t hurt you. Geez.”

His heartbeat was a hard thudding in his chest and when he went to turn on the tv, he found his hands were shaking. Perhaps agreeing to help her in her plan had been a bad idea.

~~~~~~~~~~

Short pajamas or nightshirt? Jo took one glance at the poor guy and decided on her nightshirt. It covered more of her than the pajamas did, which was a good thing considering he looked like he was about twenty seconds from a heart attack. His eyes were wide, gaze flitting about the room in constant movement. She kept having to tell him to relax.

This was going to be an interesting night, she decided, shutting the bathroom door behind her. Jo couldn’t recall ever seeing a guy this nervous and scared of being alone with a woman before. Maybe it was the whole angel thing? Sam had confirmed he was one and seemed certain Castiel could be trusted, so she wasn’t really worried about him being here with her.

Jo changed clothes and washed her face, thinking about this hasty plan she’d put together. It was probably stupid, juvenile, and far more immature than she was on a normal day-to-day basis, but she was feeling a bit of all at present. It made her feel better to do something stupid.

Returning to the outer room, Jo found him still sitting on the bed in the same position he’d been in. The tv was on, but he wasn’t flipping channels. If possible, he was more tense than he’d been a few minutes earlier. She crossed to him, taking the remote and setting it aside.

“You’re going to have to relax.”

“I can’t,” he admitted, both staring at the tv and shooting glances her way every few seconds, as though she was a dangerous animal that could pounce on him any moment.

“Why not?” Kneeling beside him on the bed, Jo studied him. She could feel the heat from his body, see the shaking of his hands, hear him breathing. “Cas,” she said. “Calm down. You’re going to burst a blood vessel or something and how would I explain that one to Dean?”

“It’s difficult to relax or calm when the only thing in my mind are images of you naked. I don’t know where they’re coming from and it’s distracting me.”

She smiled at that. “It’s normal. Guys deal with that every day, or didn’t Dean tell you that?” Raising a hand, she placed it on his back, between his shoulder blades. How could his body be so warm? His body felt feverish to her touch. “Look at me.”

Suddenly, he tensed even more, shifting away from her. “I shouldn’t be in here alone with you like this. I should return to the bar.”

Setting her hands on the bed beside her knees, she leaned towards him a fraction. “You’re scared.”

“I’m not scared. I can’t be. I’ve fought demons, archangels, and Lucifer himself. This, here, being alone with you, cannot frighten me.”

After a moment, his glance returned to her, settling upon her chest. He gulped. He seemed to be doing a lot of that. Just to see what he’d do, Jo edged closer. They continued that dance, the scooting to one side, all the way across the end of the bed to the point where he had to stop or stand up. He stopped, hands gripping the mattress edge.

“Cas.” When he looked at her again, Jo held her hands up in a placating gesture. “Take a deep breath and let it out.”

He did as she asked, repeating until he seemed calmer.

“Better?”

“Better.” He nodded.

“Good. Now, you’re attracted to me, I get that. It’s very flattering and if I didn’t still have a ton of unresolved issues with Dean, I’d be all over you in a second because you are, honestly, adorable.” Jo got up and dragged one of the chairs from the table over to sit in. “Here’s the thing. You might just need to focus on something unpleasant to keep yourself calm, especially with the next step of my ‘mess with Dean’s head’ plan.”

“Unpleasant. I’ll try.”

This was where her plan lost much of it’s focus. Jo was aware of the problem and strove to fix it as she waited for evidence that Dean had gone into the room he and Sam were sharing next door.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jo and Castiel. Who would have figured, Sam thought, turning up the volume on his iPod a bit more as he looked down at his crossword puzzle.

Dean wasn’t happy about it, sitting on his bed with arms and ankles crossed and a scowl so fierce the baddest of the bad things they’d hunted might have paused a moment to reconsider before attacking. He was behaving as though sitting there listening to the headboard in Jo’s room banging against the wall behind him was a punishment he had to endure. The expressions on Dean’s face ranged from sorrow to disgust to anger.

Sam paused the song he was half listening to and tugged the earbuds away. Without them, he could hear pleased cries were filtering through the wall like it wasn’t even there. Something about them didn’t sound quite right, but he didn’t feel like pointing that out to Dean. He was probably enjoying Dean’s discomfort a little too much, he decided.

Dean’s expression grew even more sour.

With a final ragged ‘yes’, all noises stopped.

A loud snort escaped Dean. “Finally,” he commented. “Took them long enough.”

Smothering his amusement, Sam replied, “You know you don’t have to stay in here, right?”

“No, no, I’m fine now.” He picked up the newspaper sitting to one side and pulled a section from it, opening it.

He did seem fine too -- until the headboard started hitting the wall again.

“Oh, come on!” Dean threw the paper. “Really? That was like thirty seconds! No man recovers that fast!”

That time Sam couldn’t hold back his laughter, earning an evil glare from Dean that only served to double his amusement. “Well, you did tell him she’d be a good time.”

There was a crash, Jo’s voice sounding once more. “Damn it! I’ve never had one of these break before.”

Lips tight, Dean got up from the bed and reached for his jacket. “I’m outta here.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Cas stared at the tv screen, mouth open. This wasn’t helping with his…physical problem. He tried to focus on the inconsistencies and not what the people were doing. “Jo?”

“Yeah?”

“This program is incorrect. Our wings aren’t generally visible in such a way to the human eye.”

“Sure.”

“And no angel I know of would use his or her powers to….” He broke off, then pointed a finger at the screen. “That shouldn’t be possible with the human body.”

“It’s possible. If you’re flexible enough.”

“Oh.” He wondered how one got that flexible.

“Cas?”

“Yes, Jo.”

“Look away and think of something unpleasant.”

He turned to face the door. “I will.” But he could still hear what was happening on the screen.

~~~~~~~~~~

After listening to Jo and Castiel for a few minutes, Sam had a hunch. As soon as Dean left, he turned on the tv and called up the porn listings. He started laughing, then reached for his phone and dialed Jo’s number. She answered on the third ring.

“Jo’s demon hunting service. We’ll slay ‘em and flay ‘em. Gimme an address.”

“Cute, Jo. Really cute.” He read the title he’d found off the listing. “‘Hot and Heavenly Bodies’?” It was one of Dean’s favorites that was on nearly all the time on one adult channel. The so-called plot revolved around a busty red haired female angel ‘protecting’ a guy from a dark haired evil temptress. “You paid for porn?”

“No, actually, Aleta Jane Murdock paid for it, I just used her card.”

“Nice. What was that crash, since I’m assuming you and Cas aren’t actually having sex.”

“How do you know we’re not? We could be on the floor getting some nice rug burn off this puke green carpet.”

“You’re not. You’re watching horrible porn turned way up in an attempt to make Dean jealous because he’s being an ass.” Dean wasn’t just being an ass, he was being an undecided ass who should have just gone and talked to Jo when they’d arrived. If he had, things would be different right now.

“Damn, you’re good. It was the bed. The frame broke.”

Sam blinked. “How did you break the bed?”

“Jumping on it.” Her voice was matter-of-fact.

He stared at the wall, speechless for the span of about one minute. “Jumping on it, Jo? Why were you jumping on the bed?”

“What? Like you guys have never jumped on a motel bed before?”

“Maybe when I was like six.”

“Well I jump because it’s fun and usually they’re sturdy enough to withstand my weight. Apparently they’re not sturdy enough to withstand Cas too, because one jump and it was broken. Good going, angel boy.”

Cas’s reply was muffled and unintelligible.

“You jump on motel beds for fun,” Sam asked, filing that tidbit away for future reference.

“I don’t pick up guys in bars and when I am in a bar, it’s usually with my mother. I get my fun when and how I can, Sam, okay?”

“Noted.”

“Besides, I had to make the headboard hit the wall somehow.”

“Sure,” he agreed. “But, Dean’s gone for the night, so you can turn the porn back down now.”

“Thanks. It was getting repetitive. How many times in a row can she scream ‘yes, yes, yes, ride me hard my well-hung stallion’ anyway?” She hung up.

Sam returned to his crossword puzzle.

~~~~~~~~~~

“What do you mean? Like it’s a light jail term sort of deal?”

Castiel watched Jo paint her toenails. She’d called management, told them the bed broke, but that she didn’t mind sleeping on a tilted bed. He wondered why the person she’d talked to hadn’t asked any questions or even seemed surprised.

“The consequences are too light. I should be banished from heaven forever.”

She capped the bottle. “But…did you ever stop to think that maybe you really were doing the will of heaven? The real will, and not what that skeevy douche Zachariah told you was the will. I mean, Cas, think about it. You used free will, but you used it in a good way. You disobeyed, but the reasons --”

“You sound like Dean.”

“I do?”

He nodded, then tried to change the subject. “Your mother --”

“Is a pain, but I love her anyway. What about her?” Jo set the bottle aside and leaned so she could blow breath at her toes. Cas wasn’t sure how effective that technique was, but as he’d never watched a woman paint her toenails before, he decided she likely knew what she was doing.

“She keeps looking at me.”

Jo glanced at him, pausing in her breath blowing. “And?”

“Why?”

Her grin was amused. “You looked in a mirror lately, Cas? You’re kind of cute. She likes cute. And suits. It’s weird, that whole suit thing, but hey, not like I can say anything.”

“So she thinks I’m cute.” The knowledge pleased him and he clasped his hands together in his lap.

“Probably not the word she’d use.”

“What…” He cleared his throat, giving in to curiosity. “What word would she use?”

Jo leaned back on her hands, eyes rolling up to stare at the ceiling as she thought about it. “‘Jumpable’ would make the list. ‘Easy on the eyes’.” Returning her attention to him, she shrugged. “Hot piece of heavenly ass….”

“Is that good?”

She cocked a brow. “Oh yeah. They all basically imply the same thing: the person saying them finds you attractive.” Jo leaned forward again, reaching for the nail polish once more. “Why aren’t you doing that mind reading thing anymore? That thing you did in the bar.”

Cas turned his gaze to the tv, where a police drama was now playing. Since Dean wasn’t in the room next door, Jo had decided they could change the channel. He was grateful for that. “I’m having trouble doing so. I’m uncertain why. The rest of my abilities appear to be intact still.”

“That’s weird.”

“It is. Does…does Ellen use nail polish, too?”

“Sometimes in the summer, but not usually. Why?”

“No reason.”

She put another coat of polish on her nails. “No reason, huh? Okay. You do realize Sam’s going to ask you about the jumping, right? He’s not going to let that go.”

“It was an interesting experience,” he replied, because it had been interesting until the frame had broken and the only place to focus his attention had been on the tv. No one had ever suggested jumping on a bed before. Jo called it childish, yet strangely satisfying. He’d not had a chance to find out if she was right. Maybe another day?

~~~~~~~~~~

Ellen had a knack for meeting people and always had. Owning a bar had contributed to it, but it was something she was genuinely good at. So when Dean knocked on her door, pissed with Jo and the world in general, she suggested they get a poker game together with a few of the people they’d all met earlier. It was a way to distract him from her idiot daughter’s juvenile antics.

Jo was being juvenile. More so than she’d been in a long time and definitely in response to Dean’s manner. He’d pissed her off with his waiting game and she was retaliating. There could be more to it, yet that was the underlying issue.

Ellen decided she and Sam should have tossed the two into a room like she’d initially thought they should. It would have made things so much simpler and maybe if they had she’d be enjoying some quality alone time with that fine hunk of angel in the suit, Castiel. But they hadn’t and he’d been nice enough to go along with Jo’s plan. Whatever that plan was. Sam had told her Cas was nice that way.

She knew very well her daughter wasn’t getting it on with him. Jo didn’t screw around like that. Never had. She was a flirt and while she’d given a good impression of being wild over the years, she wasn’t. So whatever was going on in that room, it wasn’t sex. Ellen knew it for a fact. Still, she wasn’t about to enlighten Dean. That was Jo’s job, one Ellen promised herself she’d make Jo do first thing in the morning.