09x01 - Summertime Blues - Part Four: Emancipation
Episode number: 09x01 of Season 9 Fan Fiction (S9FF)
Title: Summertime Blues
Subtitle: Emancipation
Author: dracox-serdriel
Word count: 1,747
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: violence, language
Sam, Dean, and Castiel stayed in two single-bed rooms that night. The younger Winchester explained that they were the only rooms available in a motel that took cash. Dean didn't question it, being too tired from teaching Castiel how to behave as a human lookout for them, and the angel didn't want to question it, because he looked forward to spending the night visible. Too often he watched the brothers sleep in motel rooms, hidden and unsleeping. Now he didn't have to pace, or to watch, he could be with Dean... with no explanations to Sam.
Indeed, Sam didn't even ask where Cas would stay. He just grabbed his bag and went to his room with a quick goodnight.
Cas carried Dean's bag and dropped it in the room as he cleaned up from the road trip. He had insisted Cas change into sleepwear at night, so he put on the bright red pajama bottoms that Dean selected at the store. They were adorned with small black Scotty dogs.
Dean came out of the bathroom in a t-shirt and pajama bottoms and stopped short at the sight of Cas in nothing more than a pair of rolled up, Scotty-dog pants.
Cas looked down at his clothing, wondering if he had put it on incorrectly.
"What is it?" he asked.
A smirk crept up Dean's cheeks. For a moment he said nothing, but then, "You look really good."
"Is that a bad thing?" Cas asked, tilting his head slightly.
This tightened Dean's expression even more. As he moved closer, he lowered his voice, "It's a great thing, Cas."
The angel initiated a kiss, which quickly and pleasantly began to blossom into more, until -
"Stop," Castiel said.
"Stop?"
"If I - if we explode light bulbs here..."
"...the angels will spot you," Dean finished miserably.
"I'm sorry," Cas said.
Dean turned to his bag and pulled out a large piece of plastic. It had an angel-blocking sigil cut into it, like a giant stencil.
"Give me a minute, I'll cover us up."
"That won't be enough," Castiel said. "If... there are disturbances, the angels will see them, and if they can't see into this room, they'll - "
" - I get it," Dean said, resigning himself and putting the sigil-stencil away.
Cas climbed into bed. He didn't need to sleep, but it was nice, pleasant even, to lie next to Dean as he slept. Dean joined him and put his head on Cas's chest.
"This sucks," Dean grumbled.
Embarrassment was the worst feeling for Cas. It's like his insides were given their own free will and twisted up and moved about however they wanted.
"Sorry, I can just - "
" - no, no," Dean said. "Not you. Not this. I mean... this."
"I don't understand. Do you want me to go?"
Dean said, "Stay..." It sounded like he had more to say, but he didn't elaborate. Instead, he took one of Castiel's hands and curled up. He didn't let go until he fell asleep.
His angel watched over him.
The meeting was at the Rolling Diner, a little fifties-style place on the main street of a small town in Kansas. Dean and Sam both dressed in semi-professional clothes under the guise of traveling salesmen. As agreed, Cas went in first and took a table asking for, "Just a cup'o coffee."
The social workers arrived next, and shortly after, Sam and Dean joined them.
"Daniel Coopers," the male social worker said.
"Dakota Gage," the female social worker said. "Please, call me Dodge. Nice to meet you."
"I gotta ask," Dean started. "I know that they're applying to be emancipated or whatever, but - "
"How does this work?" Daniel finished the question.
"Yes," Sam agreed.
"There're a number of factors at play, and a background check and interviews are important... especially people like teachers and family friends," Dodge explained.
"Well, Krissy's a great kid... a lot of leadership potential," Sam said. "So how can we help?"
Daniel said, "We have a few questions."
Thus ensued an incredibly awkward, yet well-traversed conversation about Krissy, Josephine, and Aiden. Cas listened intently, and while he hadn't mastered human conversation, he sensed it was going well.
Then Castiel had a peculiar feeling. Had he been better versed in these matters, he'd've said it felt like his hair stood on end. Something was very wrong. This feeling haunted him until Sam and Dean shook goodbye with Dodge and Daniel.
Sam went to the bathroom, and, with no subtlety, Daniel followed him. Dodge and Dean, meanwhile, both departed to their respective cars.
With the same hard-to-define feeling nagging him, Cas went to check on Sam. It was an excellent move on the angel's part.
As Cas entered, Sam flew across the bathroom, crashing headlong into the wall.
He looked up at Cas and sputtered, "Shifter... silver..."
Too late. Daniel tackled Cas to the floor, tapping into some kind of super-strength and nearly breaking his arm. The fight between the two of them was vicious. Cas wailed on the shifter, sloughing off sections of its skin. The angel found it difficult to maintain control in the increasingly slippery situation.
Sam pulled himself up, ready to help, but Cas gave up on being human and grabbed the shifter's head. The creature's eyes flamed up and his body collapsed.
POP! The old man from the parking lot appeared. "Castiel, thought you'd be a bit more careful since yesterday. Glad you weren't!"
Tamandriel reminded Sam of Zachariah, and he didn't like it.
Rushing headlong at Castiel, Tamandriel grabbed him and crashed them both into bathroom mirrors, shaking the entire diner. Clearly, Tamandriel knew martial arts. He put Castiel in a vicious rear chokehold and knocked out his knee, gaining access to the angel blade Cas kept under his trench coat.
Sam smashed his elbow into Tamandriel's face and knocked his fist into the angel's inner arm in a tackle, forcing him drop the weapon. Quickly, Cas shot a leg lift to the groin that set him free of the chokehold. Sam grabbed the blade's hilt and heaved it diagonally through the assailant's stomach.
A brilliant light, then burnt wings across the room.
"Unbelievable," Cas said as if it were a curse.
Taking one hand, the angel pushed Sam out of the way, healing him and cleaning up his cloths.
"I'll move the bodies elsewhere... and return to the bunker. Please tell Dean I'm sorry."
POP! Cas and the bodies were gone, leaving the bathroom worse for the ware. It dawned on Sam that more angels could be on the way, so he left as quickly as he could without drawing attention.
To say the ride home was uncomfortable would be putting it mildly. Dean kept grimacing, yet he bit back the usual 'I told you so.' That was what Sam found most disturbing.
"So, you aren't going to say it?" he tempted.
"Say what? That this sucks? Fine, I'll say it, this sucks."
"No, I mean..." Sam said. Truth was, he wasn't sure how to approach the topic. "Let's just... talk about the angel in the room here."
"What?"
"Instead of elephant, the angel," said Sam. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he was there to help, he saved my ass, but we could've run, you know?"
"That's why I wanted to put him on Angel Lock-down," Dean replied. "I know that's not gonna work. Wouldn't work on you'r'me. We can't expect it to work on him."
Sam waited, just in case his brother decided it was time to man up and admit the obvious. When that didn't happen, he began, "This isn't just about teaching him to fight and shoot and run. We have to make him a hunter, full human style, and, Dean, you need to find a way to rein him in."
Dean laughed. "Sam, the guy's a freaking angel of the lord, how do you expect me to rein his ass in?"
Throwing all pretense to the wind, Sam said, "He's your boyfriend, Dean, that's how!"
The screech of wheels filled the billowing silence. Dean stopped the Impala in the middle of the road.
"That's not... we're... Sam..." Dean started, his voice oddly quiet given the situation. He closed his eyes and shook his head.
"You, what, didn't expect me to notice? Dean, you haven't slept with a woman in almost a year, and even when you're flirting it's like when you were with Lisa, it's all just for show."
A full minute passed in silence. Dean stared ahead, like his wheels were cranking but he wasn't getting anywhere.
"Then you and Castiel disappear for a 'day off' somewhere and won't tell me where, come on Dean, I see the way you two look at each other. They way you are around each other, or have been for... forever, it feels like. I just don't understand why you didn't tell me."
Dean put the car in park and leaned back in his seat. He stared at the roof of the car.
"Did you think I'd be, what, upset? That'd I'd care he was a guy? Or an angel?"
"I don't know," said Dean. Then he started speaking at lightning speed. "Because it's... we've both been... We met when he yanked my ass outa hell, Sam. Then the seals, the apocalypse, that Eve bitch, damn Leviathans, and... and then Purgatory, then Naomi - "
"I get it," Sam interrupted. "It hasn't been easy."
"No, Sam, it's been impossible, and it still is."
"But you're together now?" Sam asked.
"We haven't... talked about it," Dean finished lamely. "What does it matter?"
"Well, first of all, it matters because you're my brother," Sam snapped. "And second of all, because he is an angel, and we can't make him do anything. Not as humans. But as his boyfriend, you can - "
" - don't say it like that," Dean interjected.
"Okay, you prefer... what, lover?"
"What? Hell, hell no!" Dean replied. "Seriously, Sam, no."
"What then?"
"Cas," Dean said. "Can't we just call him Cas?"
"Right," Sam replied. "Are we going to sit here all night?"
Dean shifted the car back in gear and drove off. It was several minutes before he said, "Partner."
"Sorry, what?" he asked.
"Partner," repeated Dean.
Sam went over their last conversation. "Instead of boyfriend?"
"Yeah."
"I guess I figured you'd find that a little too, you know," Sam searched for the right word but finally just blurted, "Gay."
"It's better than lover," Dean said. "A freaking thousand times better."
<<< Previous:
Part Three: Bargaining
Next: >>>
A Little More Human
Episode 09x01 Summertime Blues
Primary Post: Season 9 Fan Fiction (S9FF)
Title: Summertime Blues
Subtitle: Emancipation
Author: dracox-serdriel
Word count: 1,747
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: violence, language
Sam, Dean, and Castiel stayed in two single-bed rooms that night. The younger Winchester explained that they were the only rooms available in a motel that took cash. Dean didn't question it, being too tired from teaching Castiel how to behave as a human lookout for them, and the angel didn't want to question it, because he looked forward to spending the night visible. Too often he watched the brothers sleep in motel rooms, hidden and unsleeping. Now he didn't have to pace, or to watch, he could be with Dean... with no explanations to Sam.
Indeed, Sam didn't even ask where Cas would stay. He just grabbed his bag and went to his room with a quick goodnight.
Cas carried Dean's bag and dropped it in the room as he cleaned up from the road trip. He had insisted Cas change into sleepwear at night, so he put on the bright red pajama bottoms that Dean selected at the store. They were adorned with small black Scotty dogs.
Dean came out of the bathroom in a t-shirt and pajama bottoms and stopped short at the sight of Cas in nothing more than a pair of rolled up, Scotty-dog pants.
Cas looked down at his clothing, wondering if he had put it on incorrectly.
"What is it?" he asked.
A smirk crept up Dean's cheeks. For a moment he said nothing, but then, "You look really good."
"Is that a bad thing?" Cas asked, tilting his head slightly.
This tightened Dean's expression even more. As he moved closer, he lowered his voice, "It's a great thing, Cas."
The angel initiated a kiss, which quickly and pleasantly began to blossom into more, until -
"Stop," Castiel said.
"Stop?"
"If I - if we explode light bulbs here..."
"...the angels will spot you," Dean finished miserably.
"I'm sorry," Cas said.
Dean turned to his bag and pulled out a large piece of plastic. It had an angel-blocking sigil cut into it, like a giant stencil.
"Give me a minute, I'll cover us up."
"That won't be enough," Castiel said. "If... there are disturbances, the angels will see them, and if they can't see into this room, they'll - "
" - I get it," Dean said, resigning himself and putting the sigil-stencil away.
Cas climbed into bed. He didn't need to sleep, but it was nice, pleasant even, to lie next to Dean as he slept. Dean joined him and put his head on Cas's chest.
"This sucks," Dean grumbled.
Embarrassment was the worst feeling for Cas. It's like his insides were given their own free will and twisted up and moved about however they wanted.
"Sorry, I can just - "
" - no, no," Dean said. "Not you. Not this. I mean... this."
"I don't understand. Do you want me to go?"
Dean said, "Stay..." It sounded like he had more to say, but he didn't elaborate. Instead, he took one of Castiel's hands and curled up. He didn't let go until he fell asleep.
His angel watched over him.
The meeting was at the Rolling Diner, a little fifties-style place on the main street of a small town in Kansas. Dean and Sam both dressed in semi-professional clothes under the guise of traveling salesmen. As agreed, Cas went in first and took a table asking for, "Just a cup'o coffee."
The social workers arrived next, and shortly after, Sam and Dean joined them.
"Daniel Coopers," the male social worker said.
"Dakota Gage," the female social worker said. "Please, call me Dodge. Nice to meet you."
"I gotta ask," Dean started. "I know that they're applying to be emancipated or whatever, but - "
"How does this work?" Daniel finished the question.
"Yes," Sam agreed.
"There're a number of factors at play, and a background check and interviews are important... especially people like teachers and family friends," Dodge explained.
"Well, Krissy's a great kid... a lot of leadership potential," Sam said. "So how can we help?"
Daniel said, "We have a few questions."
Thus ensued an incredibly awkward, yet well-traversed conversation about Krissy, Josephine, and Aiden. Cas listened intently, and while he hadn't mastered human conversation, he sensed it was going well.
Then Castiel had a peculiar feeling. Had he been better versed in these matters, he'd've said it felt like his hair stood on end. Something was very wrong. This feeling haunted him until Sam and Dean shook goodbye with Dodge and Daniel.
Sam went to the bathroom, and, with no subtlety, Daniel followed him. Dodge and Dean, meanwhile, both departed to their respective cars.
With the same hard-to-define feeling nagging him, Cas went to check on Sam. It was an excellent move on the angel's part.
As Cas entered, Sam flew across the bathroom, crashing headlong into the wall.
He looked up at Cas and sputtered, "Shifter... silver..."
Too late. Daniel tackled Cas to the floor, tapping into some kind of super-strength and nearly breaking his arm. The fight between the two of them was vicious. Cas wailed on the shifter, sloughing off sections of its skin. The angel found it difficult to maintain control in the increasingly slippery situation.
Sam pulled himself up, ready to help, but Cas gave up on being human and grabbed the shifter's head. The creature's eyes flamed up and his body collapsed.
POP! The old man from the parking lot appeared. "Castiel, thought you'd be a bit more careful since yesterday. Glad you weren't!"
Tamandriel reminded Sam of Zachariah, and he didn't like it.
Rushing headlong at Castiel, Tamandriel grabbed him and crashed them both into bathroom mirrors, shaking the entire diner. Clearly, Tamandriel knew martial arts. He put Castiel in a vicious rear chokehold and knocked out his knee, gaining access to the angel blade Cas kept under his trench coat.
Sam smashed his elbow into Tamandriel's face and knocked his fist into the angel's inner arm in a tackle, forcing him drop the weapon. Quickly, Cas shot a leg lift to the groin that set him free of the chokehold. Sam grabbed the blade's hilt and heaved it diagonally through the assailant's stomach.
A brilliant light, then burnt wings across the room.
"Unbelievable," Cas said as if it were a curse.
Taking one hand, the angel pushed Sam out of the way, healing him and cleaning up his cloths.
"I'll move the bodies elsewhere... and return to the bunker. Please tell Dean I'm sorry."
POP! Cas and the bodies were gone, leaving the bathroom worse for the ware. It dawned on Sam that more angels could be on the way, so he left as quickly as he could without drawing attention.
To say the ride home was uncomfortable would be putting it mildly. Dean kept grimacing, yet he bit back the usual 'I told you so.' That was what Sam found most disturbing.
"So, you aren't going to say it?" he tempted.
"Say what? That this sucks? Fine, I'll say it, this sucks."
"No, I mean..." Sam said. Truth was, he wasn't sure how to approach the topic. "Let's just... talk about the angel in the room here."
"What?"
"Instead of elephant, the angel," said Sam. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he was there to help, he saved my ass, but we could've run, you know?"
"That's why I wanted to put him on Angel Lock-down," Dean replied. "I know that's not gonna work. Wouldn't work on you'r'me. We can't expect it to work on him."
Sam waited, just in case his brother decided it was time to man up and admit the obvious. When that didn't happen, he began, "This isn't just about teaching him to fight and shoot and run. We have to make him a hunter, full human style, and, Dean, you need to find a way to rein him in."
Dean laughed. "Sam, the guy's a freaking angel of the lord, how do you expect me to rein his ass in?"
Throwing all pretense to the wind, Sam said, "He's your boyfriend, Dean, that's how!"
The screech of wheels filled the billowing silence. Dean stopped the Impala in the middle of the road.
"That's not... we're... Sam..." Dean started, his voice oddly quiet given the situation. He closed his eyes and shook his head.
"You, what, didn't expect me to notice? Dean, you haven't slept with a woman in almost a year, and even when you're flirting it's like when you were with Lisa, it's all just for show."
A full minute passed in silence. Dean stared ahead, like his wheels were cranking but he wasn't getting anywhere.
"Then you and Castiel disappear for a 'day off' somewhere and won't tell me where, come on Dean, I see the way you two look at each other. They way you are around each other, or have been for... forever, it feels like. I just don't understand why you didn't tell me."
Dean put the car in park and leaned back in his seat. He stared at the roof of the car.
"Did you think I'd be, what, upset? That'd I'd care he was a guy? Or an angel?"
"I don't know," said Dean. Then he started speaking at lightning speed. "Because it's... we've both been... We met when he yanked my ass outa hell, Sam. Then the seals, the apocalypse, that Eve bitch, damn Leviathans, and... and then Purgatory, then Naomi - "
"I get it," Sam interrupted. "It hasn't been easy."
"No, Sam, it's been impossible, and it still is."
"But you're together now?" Sam asked.
"We haven't... talked about it," Dean finished lamely. "What does it matter?"
"Well, first of all, it matters because you're my brother," Sam snapped. "And second of all, because he is an angel, and we can't make him do anything. Not as humans. But as his boyfriend, you can - "
" - don't say it like that," Dean interjected.
"Okay, you prefer... what, lover?"
"What? Hell, hell no!" Dean replied. "Seriously, Sam, no."
"What then?"
"Cas," Dean said. "Can't we just call him Cas?"
"Right," Sam replied. "Are we going to sit here all night?"
Dean shifted the car back in gear and drove off. It was several minutes before he said, "Partner."
"Sorry, what?" he asked.
"Partner," repeated Dean.
Sam went over their last conversation. "Instead of boyfriend?"
"Yeah."
"I guess I figured you'd find that a little too, you know," Sam searched for the right word but finally just blurted, "Gay."
"It's better than lover," Dean said. "A freaking thousand times better."
<<< Previous:
Part Three: Bargaining
Next: >>>
A Little More Human
Episode 09x01 Summertime Blues
Primary Post: Season 9 Fan Fiction (S9FF)