Title: The Dilemma of Human Investment

Chapter: Two

~~~~~~~~~~

Dean woke hours later with the certainty that it wasn’t Risa, but Castiel he’d been with. All the little signs led him right to that conclusion and he groaned. That opened up a can of worms. Cas? When he thought of Castiel, his initial mental picture was of, well, Jimmy Novak, not…a very desirable Risa Hope. Was he right? Was she a vessel that Castiel had taken for some reason? Had something happened to Jimmy?

No, he thought if something had happened to Jimmy, Castiel would have told him instead of letting him….

He groaned again, recalling her manner, the way she’d moved and spoken. There’d been red flags all over the place and he’d been so intent on getting laid -- and with her -- that he’d ignored them all. No woman he knew could drink that many beers and remain fairly sober. Even Ellen, with her tolerance, couldn’t have had that much. And that question about standing too close? Definitely Cas. Word choices? Check. But it was the stare that should have clued him in far sooner. That stare…. So curious, so calm, and all Castiel.

Geez, he should have taken one look and called her ‘Cas’.

Why hadn’t Cas said anything? Why had he…she allowed him to do that?

‘I do trust you, Dean,’ Cas had said.

Castiel hadn’t only allowed it, he…she’d participated and with complete honesty. ‘I’ve never done this before,’ was right. Cas hadn’t, but Dean would bet Risa had. He’d bet Risa was exactly what he’d initially pegged her as, whereas Castiel was…simply Cas. Lovable, naïve Castiel, with those dark eyes and full lips and a body that could make a grown man cry…. Dean blinked as his body stirred to attention.

“Oh, jiminy Christmas,” he mumbled. “I’ve got a hard-on for Cas.”

He turned his head on the pillow, still able to smell the ghost of that perfume she’d been wearing. Risa…Castiel was gone, but a longer look revealed that her coat and purse were still in the room. Maybe that meant she was coming back. He hoped she was coming back. While it was typical behavior for Castiel to leave without a word, Dean was a little worried about what her leaving this time meant for them. Tossing the covers aside, he reached for his phone and dialed Castiel’s number, firmly fixing Cas as a girl in his head, at least for the present.

Somehow, he wasn’t surprised when Risa’s purse rang. He got out of bed and dug it from the outer pocket. Yup. Castiel’s phone. She was still here somewhere. He put the phone back in the pocket and sighed, hand pressed to his mouth.

Oh Cas….

Dean didn’t bother with a shower, instead dressing as fast as he could and stepping outside, hoping to see Castiel nearby. Knowing Cas as well as he did, where would she go to comfort herself if upset?

He headed for the nearest park, the one down the street from the motel and right across from that restaurant they’d first seen her in.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sam sat in a comfortable booth in the family restaurant across from the park and drank coffee while he watched the woman Dean had taken back to the room the night before. He hadn’t seen her walk to the bench, though he’d looked up in time to see her sit.

Dean sure knew how to pick the weird chicks. Sam just got a strange vibe off of her.

She was dressed, though not wearing her coat or carrying her purse, an indication to Sam that she planned to return to the room. He half expected her to pull out a phone and call someone. She didn’t. What she did was sit on the bench with perfect posture, her hands clasped almost prissily in her lap.

He thought his initial assessment of her was right on the money. A timid, sheltered librarian or schoolteacher or something determined to do something wild for once in her life. If her sitting alone outside at dawn was any indication, this bit of wild with Dean was weighing heavily on her mind. Sam imagined her wondering just what she’d gotten herself into. He could almost feel her vulnerability as she sat there staring into thin air.

His food came, an omelet filled with fresh vegetables, ham and cheese, with wheat toast and fruit on the side. He cut the omelet, took a bite, and returned his attention to her.

Dean appeared, joining Risa, keeping a hand on her as they talked. There was a tentative manner to Dean’s posture and gestures. He appeared to be trying to convince her of something and by the time Sam finished his breakfast, they were standing, Dean taking her hand and leading her back towards the motel.

~~~~~~~~~~

Castiel sat on the park bench, feeling anything but calm. Something was wrong with Risa’s body. That had to be the problem. The way she felt now wasn’t the way she’d felt inside Jimmy. The physical urges towards Dean alone were confusing. Add to that how she seemed to have absolutely no control of her emotions…. There was something amiss. It was the only conclusion she could come to.

Angels weren’t supposed to have emotions. Not like this.

She felt awkward, plain wrong. A line had been crossed and Cas wasn’t sure what that line was. Raising a hand to her cheeks, she realized they were slick from tears. She’d been crying without noticing it.

“Cas?” Dean’s hand grasped her shoulder, held on as he circled the bench, then trailed down her arm. He was afraid Castiel was going to disappear. That fear was evident without having to look at him. “It’s you, isn’t it?” He took her hand, fingers twining with hers.

She nodded. “Go away, Dean.”

“Not gonna happen. You know that.”

His presence beside her made a sick lurching begin in her stomach. Castiel wanted to flee, to somehow erase these sensations she kept having when near Dean. “Please.”

“You left while I was asleep.”

“Yes. I was….” How did she feel about what had happened? Ashamed. Mortified. Both words were right to describe what she’d felt lying there beside him watching him sleep. They’d been naked together, bodies joined. A human thing, but one that was intimate. Personal.

She felt the heat of a flush spreading along her face, neck and chest. Dean had been inside of her, caressing a part of her that was so very intimate. Dean. Her Dean.

“Embarrassed?”

“I was going to say ashamed, but embarrassed fits the circumstances as well.”

“Regretful?”

There was an odd, almost worried lilt to the word. Did Castiel regret the experience? No. It gave her a greater understanding of that part of humanity. Did she regret Dean being the one she’d experienced this part with? No as well. What Castiel did regret was the broken promise to Risa. She wasn’t going to be returned exactly as she’d been taken. “I don’t regret the experience exactly, or you, I just….” She couldn’t seem to put her unease into words and shrugged.

Beside her, Dean nodded. “If it makes you feel any better, I feel tons of weird, too.” Squeezing her hand, he leaned close. “I swear Cas, if I’d known it was you in there --”

“Apologies are unnecessary, Dean. I had ample opportunity to refuse and I chose to let the act commence. My unease at this moment is my own fault. I should have revealed my presence here inside Risa’s body the second I realized something wasn’t right in her.”

“What do you mean, something wasn’t right?”

“She’s…overly emotional. I can’t seem to contain the feelings, which is strange because I had no such problem with Jimmy. They’re overwhelming with her. Her body….” Castiel tried to loose her hand from Dean’s. He wouldn’t let go. The warm, insistent pressure of his fingers caused another confusing rush of warmth in her body. This warmth was different from the flush already on her skin, for it was internal. “Even this slight physical contact is causing a bewildering physical response. Her heartbeat quickens and she…I feel too warm…almost like there’s an ache inside. I’ve been injured before, but this, it’s different. There’s no wound to cause it, yet I feel it nonetheless.” Clenching her free hand into a fist, she pressed it to that line where her panties sat. Bikini line, Castiel remembered. It’s called the bikini line. “It’s here.” She licked her lips, very aware of Dean watching the movement of her tongue. Her heartbeat pounded fast and hard in her chest. “She’s broken somehow. It’s the only conclusion I can find.”

Dean stared at her a long moment and Castiel waited for some sort of reassurance, hoping Dean could give one because all of the things she was feeling and the intensity with which she felt them frightened her.

~~~~~~~~~~

Surely Castiel wasn’t still that naïve?

Dean listened to the oddly stammered explanation as to what Cas thought was wrong with Risa’s body in a growing state of realization. For all of the knowledge Castiel had gained in Jimmy’s body, he’d neglected to understand that women were different in more ways than just physical attributes. Women were emotional creatures and some experienced emotion more heavily than others. From the explanation, it sounded like Risa Hope was a woman who felt emotions keenly -- and everything else for that matter.

Some of his own unease slipped away. “You think all of that means there’s something wrong with her?”

“Of course.”

“You having any reactions like that to anyone else?”

“No, only you. It’s obvious to me that she wasn’t a filled vessel because she’s defective in some way.”

If Cas were thinking clearly, she’d realize that because the reaction she was having was only to Dean, it meant Risa wasn’t defective or damaged. Obviously, then, clear thought just wasn’t happening. Dean raised a brow. She was reacting rather like a normal, average woman sometimes did.

“No, Cas, no….” He released her hand and turned on the bench, placing his other hand on her knee to both keep a physical connection going and to maybe guard against Cas disappearing. Her disappearing would be the worst thing to happen right now. He needed to convince her to stay. “All of that…. She’s seriously attracted to me.” He blinked a couple times at the way that sounded. “Which sounds sort of conceited to say out loud, but that’s what all that means. It’s attraction. Emotional, physical.”

Cas still wasn’t understanding, uncertainty and confusion in her eyes.

“Sexual attraction, Cas.” Though it wouldn’t just be Risa, would it, he thought. Cas was attracted to him too, otherwise she never would have consented. The two together were attracted. Maybe that’s what was making her feel to such an extent. “You did know there was sexual attraction there, right?” The idea that Castiel was attracted to him sexually made him feel a little warm.

“Of course I knew.” Her lips twisted and she gave a derisive snort. “I’m not stupid, Dean. I wanted to be with you. I knew what it was I was wanting.”

“Sure, sure. Well…. All of what you’re feeling now is sort of a continuation of that.”

“Continuation? There’s more to this experience?”

“Sounds to me like Risa is a very emotionally sensitive woman.”

“This is normal?” Skepticism was heavy in the words, as though Cas thought Dean was lying.

“It can be. All women are emotional, but some more than others.”

“I don’t think I like these sensations, Dean. I don’t want to be emotional like this.”

He moved closer, arm along the back of the bench. “Only because you’re scared by it.” Dean could see that fear in the shallow breaths she took, the trembling of her mouth, and the way she remained tense against him. He slid his hand along her thigh in a deliberate, slow seductive gesture, wanting very much to take away that fear. It was strange to him to see Castiel afraid of something like this, though he supposed it was natural for her to be afraid. He remembered Anna saying that angels didn’t feel like humans did and for Castiel to be feeling…. “I’ve been told it’s normal for some women not to really enjoy their first time. Why don’t you try it again before you decide you don’t like it?”

Her hand covered his on her leg. “Are you attempting to coax me back into your bed for further sexual acts?” There was a breathless quality to those words.

“Yes.” He admitted it with only the barest pang of weirdness inside of him. What the hell am I doing, he thought, his mind immediately coming back with: making it all better for her.

“Why?”

“You looked in the mirror, Cas? This body you’ve got is smoking’, not to mention that that combined with this uncertain, innocent manner is a pretty potent duo. I can ignore the weirdness, work on giving you some sensations you’ll like.”

She looked down at their hands. “Things will change between us, Dean.”

“Things already have changed. I thought you’d noticed.” He leaned over, mouth to her ear, taking a quick glance behind them, seeing they were still alone. “We had sex. It’s an intimate, personal thing, about as close as two people ever get. I’d like to make sure you get everything out of it that women were meant to.” Dean meant those words. He’d hate for Cas to leave feeling unhappy and unsatisfied with their night together.

He heard a gulp, the hand on his trembling. He could only imagine how intense the sensations were that Castiel was having for her to be unable to contain them. Did increased emotion equal increased physical sensation as well?

“That means going back to the room together and really exploring the sensations this body is having. I think you really want to do that, don’t you?” He pressed a kiss beside her ear. “Do this with me, Cas. Come back to the room. We’ll take a shower, stretch out on the bed, and see if we can’t turn it all to pleasure for you.”

“I….” Another gulp. She tipped her head back, looking at the sky, gaze moving back and forth as though searching for her answer there. Her lips parted. “Yes.”

Yes?

Standing, he led her back to the motel.

~~~~~~~~~~

While Castiel hated being vulnerable, being so with Dean was bearable. She returned to the room with him, letting him lead her into the bathroom.

“Are you certain a shower is necessary?”

Dean took his shirt off. “Trust me, Cas. You can’t miss out on this.” He reached for the clasp of his jeans. “Shinny out of those clothes.”

She stripped the clothes off, dropping them onto the pile of his clothes as Dean turned the shower on and adjusted the temperature. If the previous night had felt different, this now felt even more so. This time, Dean was aware it was her. She hugged herself. “This is awkward.”

He turned, reaching for her, hands warm on her hips. “It is a little.”

“I should go.” She unfolded her arms, laid them on his. His arms were strong and could lift this human body easily if he wanted to. Castiel wondered what it would feel like to have him do that. Would it be pleasurable? She slid her hands up to his shoulders, pausing for just a fraction of a second -- not even a noticeable amount of time for Dean -- on her handprint on his shoulder. Did the scar ache? Had it ever? She’d never asked if grasping him tight and pulling him from the fires of Hades had hurt.

“Stay awhile.” He nodded at the shower. Steam was beginning to roll from it. “Have a nice, hot shower.”

“I’ve never had a shower.”

“Day of firsts for you. We should make a list of all those things you’ve never done and start crossing them off one by one.”

The water was hot, yet not too hot, the temperature warm enough to make the pass of Dean’s soapy hands on her skin even more rousing. His caresses were slow, firm, and thorough. He turned her back to him and reached around, soaping her breasts and stomach, and washing the soap away. Her back received the same treatment and then he was turning her to face him, pressing her against the wall of the shower. He laid a trail of kisses from her shoulder up to her mouth, one hand sliding down her side and leg.

“Lift your knee,” he said against her mouth.

She did, resting her foot lightly on the side of the tub.

He dragged that hand up her thigh and around it, to the inside and higher, his gaze never leaving hers. She gasped as that touch became intimate, her resulting pleased sigh almost entirely swallowed by Dean’s mouth at hers. Cas clutched at his shoulders, closing her eyes. “Dean!”

“You like that?”

“Yes!”

“I thought you would.”

She made a noise of disappointment when he removed his hand from her, opening her eyes. “You stopped. Why?”

“Not ready to let you get off yet.”

“Get off?”

His smile was decidedly wicked. “You’ll see in a bit.” He grasped her hand, lowering it down his body. “Let me show you what to do.”

She reciprocated the caress, moving her hand and fingers the way he showed her, enjoying the fact that she could cause him to groan and shudder and gasp in obvious pleasure of her touch. With a final groan, he stilled that movement.

“We gotta get out of this shower before one of us slips and falls. With my luck it’d probably be me, too.” Dean turned off the shower and reached for two towels, handing one to her. “Here. Dry off, but don’t worry about drying off too much.”

Castiel began to feel not quite so awkward.

They adjourned to the other room, back to the bed they’d previously been on. Dean’s kisses were blistering in intensity and when he slid down her body and used his mouth where his hand had been, Castiel understood what he’d meant by ‘get off’, discovering what had been missing the night before. Tension gathered inside her and was suddenly gone in a bursting of pleasure that rolled up and down her body. She cried out, back arching, lost in those sensations.

Dean was against her then, his weight pressing her into the mattress. It felt right, perfect, and, if such a thing was possible, even more beautiful than the night before. Castiel rocked with him, drawing her legs up, wrapping them around his hips. She dug her nails into his back as a second wave of ecstasy hit her and tumbled her beneath it.

The entire experience was different this time, hours passing in pleasant whirl of sensation. Dean proclaimed Risa’s body sensitive to touch. Castiel believed him, as Dean’s mouth and hands along her skin continued to elicit sensations that weren’t nearly as confusing and frightening as they’d been before.

It was much later when Dean got up from the bed and pulled his jeans back on. He stared at her a moment with a satisfied tilt to his brow, then opened his bag. “Here, come here, put this on.”

Cas left the bed, catching the t-shirt Dean tossed at her. “Why?”

“Because. Wearing a guy’s shirt after boinking him is a feminine right of passage.”

Boinking? Castiel searched for the meaning of the word and realizing it was slang for sex, pulled the shirt on. “Feminine right of passage?” It was a little big on her, but Dean seemed to appreciate it, helping to smooth it down with extra attention on her breasts and hips.

“Yeah. You’ve got to have the entire experience, Cas.” He gave her another long look and whistled. “Nice.” Stepping back, Dean grabbed the remote, returned to the bed and laid down, clicking the tv on. “Now, come here.” He beckoned with one hand. “We’re gonna watch some tv.”

“Television is a waste of time.”

“You in a hurry?”

“Not particularly.”

“Then get your ass over here.” He ran a hand along the bed beside him.

While she saw no need to spend time staring at a thing that could not engage all the senses, Castiel laid down beside Dean as he wanted her to. She rested her head on his chest, but Dean wouldn’t stay still, shifting about, and finally reaching for his watch.

“Sorry, Cas. No wonder I’m hungry. I missed breakfast.” He got up and reached for one shirt, then his shoes. “I’m going to go across the street and get something.”

Castiel sat up and crawled across the bed to him. She swung her legs over the side and watched him put his shoes on.

When the laces were tied, he looked at her. “You stay here, okay? I mean it. No disappearing.” He patted the bed with one hand. “You stay right here.”

She glanced down at the bed and back up. “Right here?”

“Right here. You don’t move.”

Cas stared at him, pondering the strangeness of that order. Why couldn’t she move from the bed? Was it another sexual thing? She opened her mouth to ask, then simply nodded. Sometimes with Dean it was better not to ask for clarification. “Very well. I’ll remain…here.”

She stayed there until Dean returned.

~~~~~~~~~~

When Sam went in to get clothes and a few of his things to occupy himself in the room he’d broken down and gotten, the woman Risa was sitting on the edge of one bed. She was wearing one of Dean’s t-shirts, the hem at mid-thigh. She had nice legs. Sam noticed that as he grabbed items and tossed them into his bag. He noticed her legs and that the way she filled out that t-shirt was spectacular.

“Sorry about this,” he told her. “I’ll just be a minute.”

She murmured a barely audible, “I understand,” which seemed an odd response. Perhaps she was embarrassed to be seen?

He glanced at her again. Yup, Dean sure could pick ‘em. There was definitely something off about her. Strange, but in a really hot way. Her hair was tousled and loose about her shoulders and Sam had to admit she was a gorgeous woman.

She looked at him and Sam realized his own glance had become a stare. Her gaze was intense, yet calmly so.

Risa wasn’t embarrassed or nervous, he realized. She was simply waiting, with extreme patience for Sam to collect his belongings and Dean to return. Most people would be fidgeting, flipping through the magazines strewn about the room or watching tv. Not her. She sat waiting without a diversion.

Geez, I thought only Castiel had patience like that, he thought. “I don’t mean to stare,” he began.

She blinked, then returned her attention directly in front of her. “Yes, you do, Sam.”

“Um…right. Sorry.” He didn’t remember telling her his name. Maybe Dean had?

“I need no apology. It’s natural for you to be curious about me.”

“Sure.” He hurried to finish packing, exiting the room as fast as he could. Dean’s lady of the moment made him uncomfortable. As he closed the door and shouldered his bag, he saw Dean coming down the walk, a large take-out bag in his hands. Sam stopped him, jerking a thumb back at the room. “That chick’s seriously strange.”

Dean nodded. “Yeah.” He clapped Sam on the back. “You have no idea, Sammy. None at all. See you in a couple days.”

“You’re planning on spending more time with her?”

“Yup.”

“Are you nuts?”

He grinned, “Probably,” slapped Sam on the back and went in the room.

~~~~~~~~~~

He’d started to feel weird the second they’d laid down to watch tv and, rather than acknowledge he felt weird right then, Dean had used his stomach as an excuse even though he wasn’t particularly hungry. That sliver of weird continued right up through meeting Sam at the door and stepping inside the room.

“So….” Dean paused a moment before closing the door. It looked suspiciously like Castiel was still sitting where she had been when he’d left over half an hour ago. “Have you moved at all from that spot?”

“No. You said to remain here.” She patted the bed.

“Um…. I didn’t mean that you literally had to stay on the bed. I just wanted you to stay in the room.”

“Mmm.” Castiel nodded. “That would explain why it seemed a strange request.”

He’d actually forgotten how literal Cas could be at times. “Right. Sorry.” Crossing to the table, he asked, “What’d you say to Sam?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary for the situation.”

“And how do you know what’s ordinary for this situation exactly?”

Castiel frowned, head leaning back a fraction. After a moment, one smooth brow arched. “Point taken. However, I said nothing save that he was staring, which he was, and that it was natural for him to be curious about me, which it also is.”

“Uh-huh.” He set down the fast food bag. “I assumed you didn’t want any food. Is that right?”

“You’re correct. I don’t require sustenance in this vessel anymore than I do in Jimmy.”

“Speaking of Jimmy, where is he right now?”

“I believe he is likely enjoying sexual relations with Amelia at present.”

“You let him loose for a conjugal visit?”

“I’ve given him time with his wife that both desired to have. What they do with that time is predictable human behavior given the months they’ve been apart.” Castiel stood from the bed, the t-shirt sliding up to barely cover her, the hem brushing the very tops of her thighs. Dean swallowed hard. “I don’t know that they’re engaging in sexual intercourse, but I can extrapolate the likelihood of that action based upon the given facts.”

Dean shook his head and sat, opening one wrapper. “Can you maybe try to talk normal? I can’t get used to your words from her mouth.”

Cas moved close. “I talk as I always do, Dean. You didn’t appear to mind yesterday, last night, and earlier today.”

He glanced up and just as quickly back at his food. “Well now it’s freaking me out, okay?”

It was the truth. It had been easier when he hadn’t known Risa was angeled up. It had been easier before he’d really had the time to process and reflect upon those things he’d been doing with her. No, not with her. With Castiel. It wasn’t Risa with him, it was Cas.

True, he hadn’t been phased by the revelation that Anna was an angel, but then she hadn’t previously been in a guy’s body, nor had she gone through all that Castiel had with Dean. Anna hadn’t been the one to pull him from hell and leave a permanent handprint on his shoulder. Nor had she been the one he’d once taken to a whorehouse and teased about being a virgin.

I popped an angel’s cherry, he thought, and immediately felt strange about it.

He looked at Castiel, who was now sitting in the chair across from him. “I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“You going back into Jimmy?”

“In a few days, yes.”

“Oh.” The idea disappointed him a little. He thought he could get used to Cas as a chick, especially in that body.

“I promised Risa it’d be a week, maybe two, but no more.”

“Right.”

Castiel was silent a moment. When she spoke, her voice was halting. “Do you wish me to remain in Risa?”

He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “You could do that?” What would happen if Castiel stayed in Risa? That speculative question produced an answer from the deepest part of him. He could easily develop feelings far greater than friendship or plain physical lust. There was a softness to Castiel in Risa’s body that wasn’t present otherwise, a change that was wholly feminine and utterly desirable, a change that attracted him.

Was it a good idea to love an angel, especially one who knew him so completely already?

“I could. It would depend largely on her consent to that, of course, but if she did consent, I could remain in her.”

“Oh.” He took a few bites, swallowed them. “No, I don’t think it’d be a good idea to move from Jimmy to her permanently.” Temporarily now and then though…. He searched for something to say as he finished eating and finally jerked his head towards the bag she’d brought. “What’s in that bag?”

“I don’t know. Risa said to take it with me wherever I went and I’d have whatever I needed.”

“You haven’t opened it?”

“I already have everything I want or need, Dean. There was no reason to open it.”

“You weren’t curious?” Maybe Castiel wasn’t curious, but he was. What on earth had Risa put in there that she’d thought Cas might need as her?

“Not especially. Human understanding of what angels need is often quite wrong.”

“Mmm.” He cleaned up from the meal, tossing the trash into the trashcan, and went over to the bag. “Let’s have a look.” Dean opened the bag that Cas had brought and reached in, pulling out the item on top and holding it up. It was a slinky tank. A pair of equally slinky shorts was beneath it. “Pajamas. I think.” He set them aside.

“I should sleep in that?” Stretching out one hand, Castiel touched the fabric.

“You don’t sleep.”

“But if I did --”

“Let’s see what else is in here.” Sticking his hand down deeper, he grasped more silky fabric and pulled it out, holding it up. It was a deep red panty. Well, it was sort of a panty, one that would cover far less than the one she’d initially been wearing. He grinned and held it out to Castiel. “Here. Put this on, too.”

Cas took it, raised it to eye level and stared at it. “This isn’t a garment. It’s a sliver of fabric and three strings.”

“It’s called a ‘g-string’.”

She frowned. “You’re making a joke.”

“No, I’m not. Women wear these. Didn’t you ever pay attention to the porn?”

She stared at him, then the g-string. With an almost haughty expression, Castiel held it over the table and dropped it. “I’m not wearing that.”

Dean snickered and pulled three more out of the bag, each with a bit less fabric than the one before it. “Yeah? Don’t like red,” he teased. “Lookie here, there’s green, tiger striped, and purple. I think the tiger-striped is totally you.” The next pair even managed to raise Dean’s brows. They were crotchless. “Hmm. I think I like her taste in lingerie. How about these? You want to wear these?”

“You’re going to tell me women wear that as well?”

“Not usually every day,” he mused. “What the hell did she think you were going to be doing?”

Castiel shrugged.

“What’d you say to her?”

She glanced away far too quickly. “It’s not important.”

“Alright. You say so.” Obviously it was important, as whatever Castiel had said had induced her to pack naughty lingerie, but Dean let the line of questioning drop. If Cas didn’t want to tell him, she wouldn’t and nothing he could say would make her.

Also in the bag were toiletry items. Risa had made sure Castiel was prepared. For something.

He dropped the items back in the bag. “Hey Cas?”

“Yes, Dean?”

“Would you do something for me tonight?”

She turned and leaned against the table. “Yes.”

“Don’t leave while I’m asleep. If you have to leave….” He looked at her. “Wake me up first?”

One hand raised, cupping his cheek, thumb sweeping across it in a caress. Already, Castiel had learned how much he liked that touch. “I won’t leave until you’re awake.” Her hand slid down his body, fingers hooking in the belt loop of his jeans. “Come back to bed.”

He followed her back to the bed and let her pull him down with her.