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Kate’s as confused by it as everyone else is, but Castiel and Dean is that one couple that never seems to fight. She’s not sure how, cause she knows that the pair of them have pretty nasty tempers when pushed in the right direction. But those tempers never seem to be turned on another. But when they do have a fight, it’s always ugly.
Like tonight.
Kate only sees the aftermath, so she’s not entirely sure what happened, but someone called into the precinct, complaining that someone in the building was screaming at someone else and it just sounded generally ugly. With the address that was given, dispatch called Kate, knowing that she was probably the only one that could walk into the potential battlefield and walk away unscathed.
Except there’s not much of a battlefield by the time she gets there.
Dean’s sitting on the floor, in front of the couch, with a half-full bottle of Jack in his hands. There’s not much evidence of the fight in the main rooms of the loft and she’s sure that if she checks the other rooms, she won’t find what she’s looking for. Cas and Dean’s fights have never gotten physical and she silently prays that they never will, because she knows that these two would definitely leave damage on one another.
There’s also no sign of Cas.
“Where’s Castiel?” Dean just shrugs and takes another swig from the bottle.
“Dunno, grabbed a duffle of clothes and his keys and just left. You know, it’s nice to know that when I screw things up, I don’t do it halfway.” Kate, for the first time in a long time, is terrified by her brother. Usually after a fight, he’s still worked up and pacing, trying to find an outlet for his anger that isn’t his fist in someone’s face. But this silent, morose drunk version of Dean is something that she doesn’t know how to handle.
“What did you guys fight about?” The bottle hits the floor hard and Dean finally looks at his sister and she can see how utterly broken he is.
“Leave it Kate,” He stumbles to his feet and drunkenly sways towards the bedroom. “Just leave it.” The bedroom door slams shut soon after that, leaving Kate in the middle of the main room, wondering what in the hell just happened here.
———
Castiel calls a few days later to tell Kate that he’s in LA.
He hangs up before she can drill him about what he and Dean fought about.
———
The separation lasts three months. Castle and Beckett make a few trips out to LA to check on Cas and to try to find out what the fight was about. The most they get is a shrug and him saying that he’s a possessive asshole and selfish prick.
Beckett, Ryan, Castle, and Esposito are coming out of café one day from their lunch break when they see a familiar car pulling up a few spots over from them. Dean’s easily recognizable Mustang pulls in a few moments later, which is enough to stop the group and make them watch.
Dean gets out of his car first, looking like complete and utter shit. Lack of sleep is evident in his face and not for the first time, Kate wants to curse Castiel for taking off and leaving her brother behind like that. Castiel is the next one to get out of his car. Kate notes that he looks as bad as Dean and is moving much slower than he normally would, almost like he’s a prison going to his death and if it were Kate that he was meeting with, he sure as hell would be.
The duo stands face to face in front of the café, seeing each other for the first time in three months, and they just stare at each other, like they’re trying to memorize what the other looks like.
Dean breaks first.
“Why did you leave?” Castiel’s eyes drop Dean’s face, shame evident in every inch of him.
“Because I’m a dumbass who doesn’t understand that they’re allowed to have good things.” Dean gives a sad little smile at that, moving closer to the brunette while speaking.
“You were taught by a dumbass.” Castiel looks back up at Dean, that same sad smile on his face.
“You shouldn’t insult yourself Dean, it’s not nice.” Dean finally laughs and it’s not that fake laugh that he’s been giving for months, but his “honest to god, I think I’m going to die from how stupidly hilarious that was” laugh. It’s a good sound to the group. Dean pulls Castiel into his arms after that, the ex-angel fitting into them like he was made to. The group can’t hear what else is said after that, but they assume that it’s good things, cause Castiel wraps his arms around Dean’s neck and buries his face into his shoulder and it’s like he was gone for a few days instead of a few months.
Kate may never know what caused the fight, but as long as Dean and Cas are together and happy, she can live with not knowing.