Chapter Text
Dean groaned as he threw himself onto his motel bed, wishing that sleep would find him quickly after such a long and mostly fruitless night.
"Wake me in four, no, five hours," he said as he got comfortable and shut his eyes.
Sam answered with a groan of his own but he at least had the decency to remove his shoes and socks first before laying his head on his sunken and flat pillow.
"Worst. Case. Ever," Dean muttered into his pillow.
And it was brutal. Nothing was worse than when a werewolf, a demon and a human serial killer decided to work together to see who could carve up the most bodies and dump them into the river.
"It should've been obvious that they were roommates," Sam might've said but it mostly just came out as mumbled gibberish.
The two Winchesters said nothing more and almost dozed when Dean's ringing cell phone cut into the silence like a knife against skin.
"Sam, answer the phone."
"Your phone. You answer."
"You're closer."
"Nu-uh."
"Uh-huh."
"Bite me, Dean - answer your damn phone."
"Fine." Without opening his eyes, Dean rolled over and grabbed the offending object, pushing the answer button and saying, "Yeah?"
"...Dean..."
Slowly Dean opened one eye followed by the other. "Cas?"
"Dean, please, I need...I need..."
"Cas, what's wrong?"
In a quiet voice, their good friend practically whispered, "There was blood - so much blood..."
"What's goin' on?" Sam asked, now alert and awake as well.
"Where are you, Cas?" Dean asked, more harshly than he'd intended.
"Hospital."
"Which one?"
"One near my house."
"He's at the hospital," Dean related to his brother and right away Sam got up from the bed, same as Dean and they went for the door. "Cas, you gotta keep going man. Where's Taylor?"
"Ta-Taylor...oh..."
Dean listened as Castiel bit back a sob and he stopped Sam with an outstretched hand. "Cas, what happened?" Dean asked for the third time.
"She - early labor. There was blood. So much blood, Dean and, and the doctors said she was hemorrhaging and she's...."
"She didn’t make it," Dean filled in.
Sam shared a look with Dean, fear and sadness in his eyes. Dean knew his own fear was reflected back to him.
"You going to be okay until we can get there, Cas?" Dean asked. Dean looked up to the ceiling and rubbed his hand against his forehead. "Cas?"
"I'll be fine. I'll be waiting your arrival."
"Good. See you soon, man. Hang tight." Dean hung up and groaned.
"What happened?" Sam asked.
"Taylor didn't make it. Sounds like massive blood loss."
The brothers got into the car and Dean started her up.
"What about the baby?" Sam asked.
"Didn't say."
Dean backed the car out of the lot and drove them back to the direction of home.
As soon as the gates of hell were closed permanently, Castiel announced to the shock of the brothers that he wanted out of the life.
"You sure about that, Cas?" Dean had asked.
"I am human from now until it is time for my passing. I want to experience what my life has to offer away from everything I have known for my entire existence. I want a fresh start."
There were still some parts of Castiel that remained fairly angelic according to the brothers. It was something they could just sense from having known him for so many years.
And so the brothers helped Castiel, set him up with a proper identity (with help from Charlie) and got him a place in town that was near enough to the bunker so that he could ride his bicycle over if they had any questions about spells, translations or if they were having a burgers and movie night.
Her name was Taylor Christian, a beautiful, smart woman who had recently moved to Lebanon to work at the elementary school as one of the 3rd grade teachers.
They'd met unsurprisingly at the library. Castiel was working behind the reference desk and this attractive woman walked up to him and asked where the books on the civil war were on the shelves. He led her towards them and then they began to talk about the war.
Castiel was still unused to conversing with people outside of Sam and Dean but for some reason talking to Taylor was just so easy. At the end of Cas' shift, the two of them left together to get dinner where they proceeded to talk more. Castiel was absolutely smitten by her - his first real crush, since Meg. They were half way through dessert when Taylor let something slip.
"I lost my father when I was eleven and my mother right after I turned eighteen. I had two options at that point - I could either go away to school to get my degree or get shipped to my relatives place out in Washington. I picked school, obviously."
"How did your parents pass?" Castiel asked, scooping a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.
"A-a hunting trip. My dad I mean. My mother, um, committed suicide," Taylor stuttered, curling her hair behind her ear.
Castiel knew a tell when he saw one but he wasn't about to let Taylor know that yet. After a minute, Castiel placed his hand gently on top of hers, noticing the charm bracelet on her wrist had many protection sigils. Taylor suddenly laughed to herself and sniffled back her tears. She smiled at Castiel and played with the remaining pie on her plate.
"What about you? Got any family?"
"I have two brothers. I was...adopted."
"Oh. They nice?"
"The best."
"Well that's good. You're a nice guy, Cas."
Over the following weeks, Castiel and Taylor had more meals together and went to visit each other when they had some free time.
"I have to tell you something, Cas. Something that no one else knows."
Castiel turned away from his microwave and Taylor swallowed nervously.
"What is it?"
"I kind of...lied about my parents. My dad died on a hunting trip - hunting a vampire. My mom was killed by a witch's hex. My family has hunted all kinds of monsters and demons and when they died and I was left on my own I wanted to finally live my own life - away from all of that...all that darkness."
Taylor looked tearfully up at Castiel who was holding a bowl of popcorn in his hand which he placed on the small coffee table in front of his couch. Feeling embarrassed, Taylor got up and grabbed her purse, making her way to the door when Castiel spoke again.
"I was not...always human, Taylor."
Slowly Taylor turned around and Castiel took a seat on the couch and patted the seat next to him, letting her know that he wanted to talk some more. He told her everything, about being an angel, having no emotions, no freedom and how that all began to change after he'd met the Winchesters. Taylor knew of them but by name only. They were sort of that infamous.
Somehow (and Castiel refused to question it) Taylor believed him. Every word. That was when Castiel knew he could bring Taylor to meet the brothers. On one burger night, Castiel surprised them by asking if he could please bring a guest.
"I don't know, Cas..."
"Trust me, Dean."