Chapter Text
Dean stared at the blue vase. It wasn’t there yesterday, he would have remembered it. He narrowed his gaze, sunflowers and daisies- weird combination, if you asked him. What was even weirder was the single pink flower that was squashed between one of the daisies and sunflowers. Dean bit his bottom lip. Maybe it was a florist mistake. The flower had gotten mixed in with the rest of the bunch. He his sight narrowed even more, he’s never seen the flower before, daffodil maybe? Petunia? That was a flower, right? His gaze wavered as a blurred hand waved frantically in front of him.
“Dean, are you listening?” Jo huffed, crossing her arms. Dean blinked quickly and nodded, his gaze not leaving the flowers. “No, you’re not! What’s with you? What’s on your mind?”
“Just tired,” he answered, finally turning away from the flowers and running a hand down his face, it was mostly true. He was tired, but there was something else on his mind, and curse Jo for knowing him so well.
“Right, so I repeat, what’s on your mind?” Dean peaked up at his best friend’s face and sighed.
“Keep this between us?”
“Of course.”
“Cas snuck into my room around midnight.”
Jo sucked in a breath, “Whoa. What did he want?”
“That’s just it. He just wanted to talk,” Dean grumbled, shutting his eyes as Castiel’s blue eyes and sly smirk reappeared to the front of his mind.
“What are you doing here?” he had asked. Castiel didn’t answer right away, instead taking an extra step and sitting himself on the edge of the bed.
“I came to see you,” he said, his voice earnest, but his eyes didn’t meet Dean’s.
“Right,” Dean snorted, “well, you saw me. You can leave now.”
“I heard you lost your memory.”
“How’d you hear that?”
“A Southern little birdy told me,” Cas answered, head snapping up. Dean sucked in a breath as Castiel's icy blue eyes met his. The lighting sucked, but it didn’t matter. Castiel’s eyes seemed to produce a light all on their own.
“And?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
“What do you care?”
Castiel’s eyes hardened at his response, and Dean felt a tug at his chest, “Dean.”
“December,” Dean replied after a beat, his voice barely above a whisper. He willed his eyes to stay on Castiel’s and felt a bit victorious when the man turned his head away.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Dean?” Dean startled at the sound of his name, blinking a couple times before his gaze landed back on Jo. “Wow, that bad, huh?” Dean didn’t answer, instead he gave a brief nod.
“He said he wants to help,” he added nonchalantly, or at least he thought it was nonchalantly.
“Help? Help us?”
“Yeah.”
“And what did you say?”
“Yes," he responded, then quickly continued, "I don’t know, Jo. What was I supposed to say? I couldn’t even look at him, and if I did my fucking heart tried to leap out of my chest.”
“Dean,” Jo’s voice was quiet, cautious. “I know you hate him-”
“That’s the problem. I don’t. I don’t hate him.”
Jo sighed, “Yeah, I don’t either.” Dean stared at her, mouth open. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I should. I should for breaking my best friend’s heart, but Dean he made you so happy, and all things must come to an end sooner or later. To be fair, it seems like he hasn’t gotten over you.”
“He left me,” the words were bitter leaving his mouth.
“I know, but I just-”
“Hello, darlings.” Crowley’s voice caused them both to jump.
“Hey, Crowley. What took you so long? Couldn’t find your tea in the harbour?” Dean joked as his friend took a seat by the window.
“Ha. Ha, very funny, squirrel. I was doing some research to help you.”
“Cool, so was I,” Ash commented, lazily walking through the door, Benny and Sam right behind him.
“Alright, so who’s going first?” Dean asked.
“Ash. Tell us what you got, and I’ll try to add whatever info I can,” Crowley stated, leaning back on the chair.
“Right, okay, so we know there are a couple of underground drug dealings. We’re in high school- it’s not unusual,” Ash began, “but methamphetamines is.”
“There’s only one source I know that sells crystal meth,” Crowley piped up, “and that’s the bloody Leviathans.”
“Who?” Benny questioned.
“Leviathans is what they call themselves,” Crowley explained, “their head dealer, producer whatever, is Dick Roman.”
Dean’s eyes shot up to his British friend as the name left his mouth. Why did that name sound so familiar? A mental string tugged at his brain, and he shut his eyes tightly, trying desperately to call back the source that was causing such a nostalgic feeling.
“Dean? Buddy, you okay? Looks like you’re about to blow out a heavy one,” Ash’s voice distracted him, and he cursed low and quiet as the string dissolved.
Dean sighed, “I just- I think I’ve heard that name before. It just- it sounds familiar.”
“That’s believable- considering who you were dating four months- ow!” Crowley’s hand rubbed his upper bicep as he looked angrily at Jo. Jo ignored him.
“Right,” Dean said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, “but I lost it. Thanks to Mr. Mullet over here,” he gestured towards Ash who smiled sheepishly.
“Okay, so the Leviathans,” Ash leaned against the wall, hand under his chin, “the Leviathans have access to crystal meth, but what would they want with Dean?”
“That’s a good question,” Benny snorted, “What’d you do them, Dean?” Dean shrugged his shoulders at Benny who pulled something out of his jacket.
“Well,” Sam’s voice caught everyone’s attention. He hadn’t spoken since he got here, just quietly listening. “Maybe it wasn’t them,” he suggested carefully. Everyone remained silent, quiet encouragement. “Maybe whoever did this just got the drug off them. Crowley is Dick known for drugging others?”
“He’s a scum,” Crowley scoffed, “very well known drug dealer, even went to juvy for a couple years for aiding and abetting, but no, I don’t think he’d go so low as to drug someone. He’s powerful and can be really persuasive and charming, he wouldn’t need to drug anyone.”
“What if Dean was supposed to be a lesson?” Jo questioned.
“A lesson for what? Being a pretty boy jock? No offense, squirrel.” Dean shrugged his shoulders in indifference, turning towards Benny who held something out to him.
“Maybe that’s what we should try figuring out first,” Benny said, placing the pack of gum back in his jacket, casting a funny look at Dean, “We need to find out why Dean was targeted. Then it’d be easier to figure out the ‘who.’”
“You’re right,” Ash agreed, snapping his fingers. “Why were you targeted Dean? What could you have possibly done to piss someone off so badly they wanted you dead?”
“Hey, now,” Dean spoke, “we don’t know if they wanted me dead or not. I had an allergic reaction. For all we know- they might have just wanted to drug me.” He met Benny’s eyes who were filled with a strange emotion- worry, most likely.
“Okay, if that was the case… Then what were they planning to do with you?” Jo asked quietly, chewing on her bottom lip. The bunch sat silent for a moment. Their minds going through multiple reasons as to what could have happened to their friend.
“Maybe we should ask the two boys that had tried to take you from your friends’ care,” a new voice interjected. Dean’s eyes glanced up to meet a pair of friendly brown eyes that belonged to a rather pretty female officer. She smiled as officer Milton came up beside her. “Hi, everyone,” she greeted brightly, “I’m sheriff Jody Mills.” Her head then tilted towards Dean, “Mr. Winchester, I’m here to try and figure out what happened to you and why,” she finished, a hint of hardness in her eyes. “You do know that the department will try to do everything they can in order to figure this out, right?” without waiting for a response, she added, “So you don’t need to worry.”
Dean and his friends nodded quickly in response, but during the officers’ interrogation, they exchanged subtle looks and even a quick quirk of eyebrows. After fifteen minutes, they stood up and shook Dean’s hands. “We’ve already contacted Mr. Novak on the matter. He claimed to have not known them personally,” Jody commented.
“Oh?” Dean eloquently said.
“Yeah,” the sheriff mused, “Said he’d seen them around, but, how did he put it? ‘Friends of friends’ in his words. No personal familiarity with them whatsoever, and his alibi checks out for the times when you were drugged, before, during, and after.” The sheriff then excused herself to talk to Tessa while officer Milton stayed behind. The young officer stared curiously at Dean with a hint of worry in his beautiful eyes, Dean blushed slightly.
“Anything else, officer?” he asked, pointedly ignoring Jo’s knowing smirk.
“Michael, Dean, please,” the man smiled, “And I just want to make sure you won’t do anything to put yourself in further danger.” After a moment, he turned to look at the others, “That goes for all of you,” he said sternly. “We don’t know the motive and we don’t know the who, so please. Let us handle it. Sheriff Mills is a very skilled officer, and the detectives are really good at figuring things out. It’s their job.”
Dean nodded once, then flashed the young officer one of his best ‘panty-dropping’ smiles, “Of course, officer- I mean, Michael.” Michael blinked a couple of times then hurriedly nodded his goodbye, almost tripping out the door. When he was gone, Jo, Crowley, and Ash burst into fits of laughter.
“Honestly, Dean,” Sam huffed, a hint of amusement in his voice.
“What?” Dean asked innocently, “Can’t help it that I’m adorable.”
“Dean has a thing for colored eyes and dark hair,” Jo giggled.
“Can you not flirt with everything that moves?” Benny’s tone made them jump, Dean’s eyes met his.
“Oh come on, Benny. It was just fun,” Dean joked. Benny rolled his eyes in annoyance, so Dean grinned.
“Jealous?” he winked at his friend. Benny glared at him and said nothing, his eyes like steel.
“Well,” Crowley cleared his throat, “I don’t know about you, but it seems these “officers” are trying a bit too hard to make sure we sit on our asses and do nothing. I don’t even think you’re allowed to breath too raggedly, Dean- might harm yourself, wouldn’t want that.”
“Crowley’s right,” Jo agreed, “They’re very on top of this. Then again, we’ve never experienced this before, but they’re kind of…?”
“Suffocating?” Sam chimed in. “I agree. What if this bigger than we thought?” The room became quiet as the group let his words settle in. Could it be possible that this is bigger than what they all imagined? And Dean somehow got caught in the middle.
******
Castiel gently thumbed the waxy petal of the white daisy in his hand, his mind lost in thoughts. Memories of bright green eyes and cheeky smiles floating to the front of his mind. He sighed.
“Oh, Dean,” he whispered sadly, turning the flower over and over in his hand. He raised his head suddenly, in a hard voice he said, “If you’ve come here for no reason, I suggest you leave.” He waited then. After a couple minutes a familiar chuckled bounced around the room. He let his shoulders drop and relax.
“Hey, bro,” Gabriel greeted, placing his hand gently on Cas’ shoulder, “how are you holding up?” His voice was soft, careful, and so unlike his best friend, it caused an ugly stir in the pit of Cas’ stomach.
“I’m fine,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, and I’m a god,” Gabriel snorted.
“What do you want from me?” Cas asked, no longer trying to hide the tiredness in his voice. His shoulders slumped, and Gabriel removed his hand.
“I want to know you’re okay. If you’re not going to tell me what’s going on, then I at least want to know you’ll see the light of tomorrow.”
“I just… I don’t know,” Cas was stumbling, his words lost in a thick of emotion that was beginning to choke him. The weight on his shoulders was becoming too much, too heavy. He shut his eyes tightly, wishing he had something to help ease him.
“No.” Gabriel said loudly, Cas opened his eyes and turned towards his friend, he opened his mouth to respond but Gabriel grabbed him quickly and pulled him into a tight embrace. Cas stood there in shock at first, then numbness, and finally he let out a haggard sob.
Clutching his best friend tightly, he choked out, “I know. I know.”
“Dean would be pissed if you did,” Gabriel chuckled after a few moments.
“Dean hates me,” Cas said sadly, silent tears falling down his cheeks.
“No,” Gabriel said, “No, he doesn’t. It will be okay. It will all be okay.”
“How do you know?”
“Cause I am a god.” Cas bubbled out something of a laugh as Gabe quickly added, “No, because it will be. What ever it is that’s happening, I’m going to help you. You can’t keep bottling up everything to yourself, Cas.” Cas nodded but said nothing.
When Gabriel finally left, after many assurances of ‘yes, Gabe I promise to tell you. I’ll let you know.’ Cas dragged himself to his bed and stared up at the ceiling.
He knew Gabriel was right, but he wasn’t going to put any more people he cared about in danger. They already had Dean, and that was more than enough. Cas sighed as he shifted in his bed, a thousand questions running through his mind.
Why had Alistair and Zach showed up at his high school? Why were they trying to convince Jo and Benny to hand Dean over to them? How had they known Dean would be in that state? He had proven himself. He had severed all ties with Dean, isolated himself from his peers, and kept his mouth shut about everything.
So why were they still bothering him? Why were they after Dean?
Nothing made sense, and Cas was getting tired, physically and mentally, of being left in the dark, of being two steps behind. He said he would help Dean, and he would. Nothing had been discovered yet- about Dean or anything else.
Castiel sat upright in his bed, eyes wide, heart being erratically in his chest. A new question wracking his brain, one that sent chills down his spine. He stood up suddenly, throwing a hoodie on, ignoring the tiny voice in his head that whispered ‘Dean’s,’ and grabbed his keys off the nightstand. He stopped as his eyes landed on the daisy he held earlier.
He picked it up carefully, tears stinging his eyes, and he cursed- wiping them away furiously. He turned and walked out the back door, locking it behind him, he walked out in the forbidding night- oblivious that the daisy had fallen out of his pocket as he climbed into his car and drove off.
*****
Dean stared at the clock on the nightstand, it blinked lazily in red box-cut numbers 12:05 AM. He grumbled, rubbing a hand down his face, cursing this new case of insomnia that came with the concussion and memory loss. He was tired, but he wasn’t tired, and that paradox in itself pissed him off.
The moon’s light sprinkled into the room, casting an array of shadows. It was creepy to say the least.
Dean fell back on the bed with a sigh and tried clearing his mind so that he could get some fucking sleep. He tossed and turned for a good hour until he finally fell into a restless slumber.
“Dean,” Cas laughed, running in front of him. Dean watched with a smile on his face as Cas’ feet hit the water and he yelped. Dean let out a full-bodied laugh, which Cas responded to with a bitchface that could rival his brother’s.
“Oh, come on, babe,” Dean chuckled, his toes barely letting the cold fingers of the waves skim them. “You wanted to come to the beach in the middle of October- obviously the water wasn’t going to be warm.” Cas continued to glare at him, but a ghost of a smile tugged at his lips. He turned then, his back towards Dean, and tilted his head up towards the sun. It was freezing, yeah, but it was sunny, and Cas basked in the light.
Dean regarded him curiously, not daring to take his eyes off him. They’re been together for almost a year now, but the past few weeks Cas had been acting strange, to say the least. He was constantly disappearing, never answered his phone- his excuse being he had to ‘take care of some things.’ Dean hated when he said that. It was just code for “I have clients and deliveries to make.”
He sighed then, at least Cas had stopped taking drugs. He was getting better, and Dean wanted to be there for him, and God, Cas was trying. Dean shut his eyes tightly- the image of Cas on the bathroom floor fighting its way to the front of his memory. He was so yellow, so still, his chest rising and falling at an unbelievably slow pace.
“Dean! Come into the water or I’ll drag you in here,” Cas threatened, his husky voice banishing the dark images from his mind. Dean’s eyes opened, and startled to find his dark-haired angel a couple feet in front of him. Dean grinned as Cas stalked towards him, a sly smirk appearing on his handsome face.
“Whatcha gonna do, Cas?” Dean waggled his eyebrows, taking a step back. Castiel’s smirk didn’t leave, and a dangerous hint of mischief glinted in his cobalt eyes.
“Oh, Dean,” he singed-song, “You should know by now that I am very capable of getting what I want.” He finally came nose-to-nose with Dean, his actions quick as he placed his hands firmly on Dean’s hips, “And I always get what I want.” His voice was low, breathy, and husky- Dean felt his face flush.
“Is that right?” he managed to whisper before Cas’ lips covered his own. The kiss lasted several seconds, before Dean broke away with a curse as he felt Cas’ strong hands push down on his chest. He fell back with a shout, and he glanced up with a pout- only to break into a smile as Cas tilted his head back and let out a very joyful, very carefree laugh.
“Got you,” he said, and Dean chuckled.
“Yeah, yeah you do.”
Dean woke up with a start, the memory disintegrating like wet sand. He groaned, rubbing a hand down his numb face. He stopped abruptly. His face was numb. He couldn’t feel his legs. His arms had that weird tingly feeling they got just before they fell asleep. He began to panic, his mind now fully aware that he didn’t just wake up. Something woke him up, or worse, someone.
His eyes darted around the room, quickly going through every detail as he remembered it from the night before. Lazy streaks of sunlight made their way past the cracks of the blinds, as Dean checked over the room once. Then again. He sighed in relief, as everything seemed to be in its place, and he could feel his legs again. A small case of sleep paralysis- he was becoming so paranoid. Relax, he thought.
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, the room spinning a bit and his body vibrating but still able to move- heavy footsteps patting on the cold tiles as he made his way across the room. He opened the door of the bathroom, his hand switching the light on, stepping inside he glanced up at the mirror and froze.
His heart jump-started in his chest, his breathing became uneven, and he saw black spots in his vision. He quickly dashed out of the bathroom, grabbing his phone on the nightstand as his finger pushed down on the ‘nurse’ button.
“Hello,” a deep voice answered on the other side.
“Officer Milton,” Dean’s voice was high-pitched, he gritted his teeth- trying to swallow down the panic that was threatening to bubble out of his mouth.
“Dean? What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Come here. Please,” he whispered,not trusting his voice. He stared directly into the mirror of the bathroom, lip trembling as he added, “And hurry.”
Glaring back at him in thick, red letters were the words, You are mine.