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Team Free Will just returned to the bunker from their latest case: A witch and her daughter were wreaking havoc in a town two states over, killing people and using them for some absurd spells.
Team Free Will took them down. Taking them down took a little extra oomph, but they got them.
Now the team is tired as hell and sore as shit.
At least Sam is, with both. Immensely. He got flung into a wall, like usual. And his back is screaming in pain.
He doesn't grab a drink or get any food; he goes straight to his room. He'll shower and everything tomorrow, but he can't fathom doing anything other than sleeping right now.
Jack struts around grinning, and walks into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich before he goes to watch something in the Dean Cave.
The Dean Cave has changed a little since Dean and Cas have gotten together, Dean put one of the recliners in Cas's old bedroom to relax in and put a love seat in its place inside the Dean Cave. Oh, and Cas and Dean share Dean's bedroom now. The bed's a bit small, but—he'll never admit it out loud—Dean loves snuggling with Cas pretty much every night.
Cas of course loves anything that Dean gives him. And snuggling close to Dean every night, hell fucking yes. He'll take it. He loves his relationship with Dean. Dean is a softie around him and Cas finds it adorable.
Dean's usually not like this with other people, but Cas has always been his exception.
And at the beginning of their relationship, Dean wasn't as much of a softie. It didn't take him long, though.
Jack walks out of the kitchen and into the Dean Cave as Dean walks into the kitchen to grab a beer. Cas walks into the kitchen too, a little bit behind Dean, standing in the doorway, watching Dean lean back against the island and sip his beer.
"C'mere," Dean commands, sweetly, pulling the beer from his lips and staring at the wall in front of him. He could feel Cas's eyes on him. And he wanted him close. Now.
They can't do it much on cases. Unless it's night. Because they claim one bed while Sam claims the other, while Jack giddily accepts the couch. And sometimes—more often than not—they claim separate rooms. Far apart because they are loud. They don't want to scar Jack or Sam. Mostly Jack though. He doesn't need to hear his dads have very athletic, brain-breaking sex.
Cas walks over to Dean, smiling a little bit.
He stands right in front of Dean, who reaches behind him to set the bottle down on the island, grabs Cas by his arms, and pulls him into a tight embrace.
"Hello, Dean." Cas greets, hugging Dean back, and tucking his head under Dean's chin. It's kind of a habit now.
"Hey, sweetheart." Dean plants a kiss on Cas's brown messy—as always—hair.
They stand there for a little while, holding each other, and swaying ever so slightly.
"Ready for bed, angel?" Dean asks.
"Not yet," Cas mutters into Dean's shirt.
Dean smirks. "What are you ready for then?"
Cas releases Dean, who quickly follows suit. Cas then grabs Dean's hand and walks out of the kitchen, dragging Dean with him.
And Dean has no complaints as to what's currently happening.
They pass the Dean Cave along the way, to see Jack sleeping on the loveseat, looking very peaceful.
Cas slaps the light off before yanking Dean in the direction of their bedroom.
Dean lets out a little yelp as he's pulled hard suddenly, and then chuckles evilly as they get closer to the bedroom because he knows what's next.
He's about to get pounded into the mattress.
*****
Sam wonders into the kitchen after a night of peaceful sleep and a very much-needed shower.
He finds Jack sitting at the table giddily eating bacon and eggs. Cas is sitting across from him, drinking a mug of coffee, looking fairly worn out. Sam doesn't want to know why. And Dean's smiling like a kid on Christmas cooking some more eggs and bacon. Definitely doesn't want to know.
"Mornin' Sammy!"
"Morning, Dean. You're...very chipper this morning...and I don't want to know why." Sam walks towards the coffee machine, getting himself a cup.
"Shut up, Sammy." Dean puts the last bit of bacon and eggs onto his plate and walks over to his angel, sitting right next to him. "And it's exactly what you think it is." He smirks at Sam when he says that.
"Eeeewwwww. Dean. Really? In the kitchen?"
Dean just shrugs, then goes on to eat his breakfast. Cas hands him a fresh cup of coffee as he refills his cup.
"Thanks, sweetheart."
Cas hums, planting a kiss to Dean's temple. "You're welcome, Dean." He then sits down right next to Dean again.
After a while of them eating, talking, and laughing together like the family that they are, Dean asks as he's putting everyone's dishes into the sink, "I'm going on a food run. Does anybody want anything specific? List it now or you ain't getting it until the next run." He claps his hands walking around the island to the table.
"All good here, Dean," Sam says, taking his newly filled mug of coffee and walking out of the kitchen.
"I'm okay, Dean. Thank you." Jack says, smiling wide, like the adorable person he is.
Dean looks to Cas and flashes his Cas smile at him, raising his brows in a very Dean manner.
Cas makes a face because they only need one thing. And if Jack wasn't here, he'd say it out loud.
"Right. Gotcha, sunshine." He walks over to him and kisses him sweetly. "See you later. Love ya, angel."
"Hmm. Love you too, Dean. Be careful."
Dean's at the doorway when he says, as he swats the air, "Yeah, yeah."
*****
Dean and Cas usually keep each other posted if they go separate ways for a case, a food run, or anything that requires one to leave the bunker and one to stay.
Dean lets him know when he's parked at the store, checking out, then heading back to the bunker, if he goes on a food run.
But Cas has received nothing. And Dean has been gone for almost two hours. Cas has called him twice with no answer.
"Sam!" Cas shouts, practically sprinting into the library.
Sam looks up, startled. He's sitting at a table in the library, with his face practically shoved in a book. "Everything okay, Cas?"
"Have you heard from Dean?"
"No, why?"
Cas sighs. "He usually texts me when he's parked, checked out, and then when he's heading home. And it's been almost two hours and I haven't heard anything from him. I've called him twice, Sam! He's not answering!"
"Oh, God. Let me..." Sam grabs his phone off the table and dials Dean's number.
Nothing.
"He didn't..." He slowly lowers his phone from his ear.
"No. No. No." Cas is pacing around the room. On the verge of panic. "This can't...he can't..."
Sam walks over to Cas, gripping his shoulders, making him stop pacing. "Hey, we'll find him. Maybe he didn't take his phone, or maybe his phone's just dead. We can't jump to conclusions yet."
Cas takes a deep breath. "Okay, yeah, you're right, Sam. Sorry." He walks over to the nearest chair and plops down on it.
"It's okay. And I'm a little worried now too. Food runs never take this long. I was kinda close to calling him myself. Just to check up on him."
Cas's takes a deep breath. "What do we do, Sam?"
"Why don't we drive to the store, where we always go? Just to check up on him. Maybe there's a line or the Impala broke down..."
"Okay. Let's take my truck." He stands up quickly. "Wait, what about Jack?"
"He'll be okay. Let's tell him we're leaving first, though."
"You do that. I'll be in my truck." Cas stomps off towards the direction of where his truck is parked outside the bunker.
Sam is there two minutes after him.
"Jack said for us to stay safe." He said with a smile.
"Good advice. I just hope Dean is." Cas said, his eyes looking down, with a sad expression.
"Me too, Cas. Me too."
*****
TWO HOURS EARLIER
Dean parks Baby in the parking lot of the local market they always go to for food runs. He hops out, and pulls out his phone to text Cas, with a cute smile on his face, when something hits his head and then everything goes black.
A slim blonde woman, who looks very much like the two witches the team just defeated two days ago, drags Dean's limp body towards her vehicle in the next space over.
Dean's phone and Baby's keys were dropped from Dean's hands as he blacked out and fell. The phone is under Baby and the keys are right next to her.
*****
NOW
Cas and Sam pull into the parking lot, instantly spotting Baby in the nearly empty lot.
"There!" Sam shouts, pointing to her.
Cas parks the truck right behind her, he hops out of the truck faster than Sam does and runs over to the driver's side.
"Dean!" Cas yells.
He sees no one in the driver's seat. His feet hit the keys on the ground.
He looks down and sees them, then picks them up. He also sees something under Baby, he reaches for it and grabs it.
Dean's phone.
"No." Cas stands back up, slowly, staring at the items in his hands.
"What?!" Sam frantically runs around Baby to Cas. "What is it? Oh my God..." He takes the keys from Cas.
"Dean's phone was under her." He unlocks it, to see that Dean has a text typed out for Cas but he never got to send it: I just parked, angel, I'll make sure not to forget you know what 😉. I love you, and I'll see you soon. ❤️
"Oh, God. No. No. No." Cas is pacing again.
Sam looks at him confused and worried. "What is it Cas?"
Cas stops and faces Sam, with fear, worry, and panic in his eyes. "Dean...Dean was about to text me when...when something happened to him. Sam...where's Dean?"
"I dunno, Cas. But we're going to find him. Let's check and see if this parking lot has some security cameras. Maybe they'll tell us what happened to Dean."
"Good idea, Sam."
*****
Dean woke up in a very strange, worn-down kitchen, unable to move anything.
"Hey! What the—?"
He's cut off because someone puts a gag in his mouth.
"Shut up, Winchester!" The blonde witch shouts. "You are going to pay for what you did to my mother and twin sister."
Dean's eyes went wide in shock.
"You remember them don't you, huh?" She gets really close to his face in the chair he's tied to. "Yeah. You took everything that I loved away from me. So now, I'm going to take all that you love from you. And I'm going to make you watch."
Dean starts fighting against the restraints.
She walks in circles around him, knife in hand, flashing it in Dean's face as she passes his face. "I'm going to kill your baby brother first." Dean swallows. "Your son next." Dean takes a deep frustrated breath. She stops suddenly right in front of him, then she smirks, knowing who's next. "Then I'll kill your angel hubby." Dean's eyes go wide. "Mhm." She nods, with an evil smile. "He'll be the most satisfying. I'll tie him up and make him suffer. And you'll watch it all, Winchester. Then I'll kill you, very very very slowly. Or maybe I won't. I might just torture you forever, knowing that the people you care for most are dead. Especially that angel of yours."
Dean gulps, tears very close to falling, and then shouts something in the gag. Something along the lines of: You stay away from them you witch!
She grins mischievously, "The ones you love most will die Dean Winchester, and there's nothing you can do about it."
Dean looks down—holding his eyes shut—so she can't see the tears falling down his face.
*****
Sam and Cas got to the security camera room at the convenience store, with some disguises and fake badges.
They had to head back to the bunker, Sam drove Baby, and Cas drove his truck.
They returned to the store half an hour later.
When they found the right time stamp, they saw Dean park Baby, then he got his phone out and began typing, smiling. Cas tears up a little at the sight. This is when he typed out his message to Cas but never got to send it.
"Dean..." He whispers. He can't live without Dean. He just can't.
Then a blonde woman hit him on the head, coming from behind, knocking him out cold.
Cas winced, looking away. He can't stand to see his love getting hurt.
They saw which way her car went and went in that direction.
"Hello, we're FBI," They flex the badges. "We're looking for a 2010 White Chevy. There's a possible kidnapping. Mind if we look at the cameras for a moment?" Sam asks a store clerk.
Everything led them to a gravel road in the woods.
Of course.
Where else?
Sam's driving Baby. He has been the whole time. Cas isn't in his right mind to do much right now.
"We're going to find him Cas. We're not going to stop until we do."
"I know. I just...I just can't help but think of all of the bad possibilities of what could be happening to him right now."
"I know, Cas. I know. But we're going to find him. It's going to be okay."
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry."
"No, Cas. You've got nothing to be sorry for. Don't apologize for loving my brother and making him happier than I've ever seen him. Okay? Don't apologize for that."
Cas smiles a little at him as they arrive at some sort of wood cabin. It's very worn down.
"Definitely the right place," Sam says, trying to lighten the mood.
Cas gets his angel blade out and in his hand. Sam gets his gun. Loaded with witch-killing bullets. They saw that the blonde woman looked just like the witches they killed a couple of days ago. They connected the dots as to why she took Dean fairly quickly.
Sam kicks the door open to the cabin, gun pointed out in front of him. Cas is right behind him, ready to kill this bastard to get Dean back.
*****
SECONDS EARLIER
The witch continues walking around the chair.
"So, how long do you think it'll take for them to find you?"
Dean's face forms into a death stare, and he talks into the gag.
"What was that, Winchester? Can't hear you over the gag." She jokes. Then she pulls it down.
"They're looking for me. They're probably on their way right now."
"You think so?"
"Yup." He adds a pop to the 'p'. "And they're going to kill you. Just like we did to your mother and sister."
"Shut up, Winchester." She's about to put the gag back in his mouth as the door is suddenly kicked open.
*****
NOW
The witch twists around and runs to the entrance to see Sam pointing a gun at her. Then Cas walks around Sam with an angel blade.
"Dean!" Cas shouts, looking for his hunter, frantically. "Dean!"
"Oh my God," Dean breathes out, relieved to hear his angel's voice. "Cas, baby, I'm here!" Dean's voice is kinda faint. But he's not too far either. Cas can tell. "I'm here, Cas!!"
"Dean!" Cas runs towards the voice. But he's thrown back into a wall because of the witch before he gets too far.
"Not so fast, little angel." She hisses at him, as she throws Sam—he's pointing the gun at her—into the wall as well. "You either, Sammy."
"What do you want with Dean?" Cas asks, sitting up against the wall because he can't move away from it. She's pinned him to it with her magic.
"Revenge. He pulled the trigger. So now I'm going to make him watch everyone he cares about die. Just like he did me."
"It's not going to do anything to get your family back. No matter how many people you hurt or kill, they'll never come back." Sam says.
She hits him with some magic, making him hiss loudly.
"Sammy!!" Dean's voice shouts from the kitchen.
"Let. Dean. Go." Cas growls, staring in the direction Dean's voice came from, his heart clenching to hear the fear in his voice.
"Hmmm. Let me think...no." She hits Cas with some magic now, smirking.
He screams.
"Baby?!?" Dean yells from afar, with concern, fear, and love for his angel, fighting against the restraints. "You leave him alone, bitch!"
"Alright, Sam, you're first." She says, sinisterly.
"Bitch, you leave them alone!" Dean shouts.
She grabs Sam by the neck and knocks the pistol onto the floor. "Come on, we've got a show for your big brother to see." She walks—drags—Sam into the kitchen, where Dean is tied up.
"Jack," Cas prays, his eyes closed. "We need your help."
Jack appears suddenly next to Cas, standing, looking around confused.
"Jack," Cas whispers.
Jack turns to him suddenly. "Cas?" He says, a little louder than Cas would like.
"Shh. Stay quiet and grab the gun over there and shoot the witch." He points in the direction of the gun with his head.
"Okay," He says, with an innocent grin. "Wait, where's Sam and Dean?"
"That way." He uses his head again to point in the direction of where she dragged Sam and where Dean's voice keeps coming from. "Be quiet and quick, Jack."
"Okay, Cas." He nods, carefully walking in that direction, with a little smirk on his face.
"Alright, Sam, how shall I kill you? Quick and painless? OR, slow and agonizing...? Which do you prefer?" The witch teases, hand still tight on Sam's throat, right in front of Dean, who's still tied in the chair but the gag is back on his mouth now.
Jack aims the gun at her and fires it at her, killing her instantly. She dies, screaming, then vanishes as a cloud of dust.
Jack drops the gun and runs to Sam, who is holding his throat.
"Sam!"
"I'm okay, Jack. Thank you." He hugs Jack tight. Jack hugs him right back.
When the witch died, Cas was free to move on his own will again. So he got up and sprinted to Dean as quickly as he could.
"Dean!" He kneels in front of Dean, looking him over making sure he's okay. Then he removes the gag, throwing it off to the side. "Dean, are you okay?" He begins untying the ropes from Dean's arms, looking up and Dean now and again to check up on him. To make sure that he's okay.
"Yeah, baby, I'm good. Thanks for coming for me." He says, rubbing his wrists as Cas unties the ropes from his legs.
Cas rises to his feet to help Dean stand.
"I'll always come to help you, Dean. Always."
Dean smiles, as Cas pulls him up. "I love you so much, angel."
"I love you too, Dean."
Dean wraps his arms around Cas's neck and pulls him into a kiss.
Cas holds Dean close, wrapping his arms around him, humming into Dean's mouth.
They pull back after a few minutes and rest their foreheads together.
Dean pulls back, smiles at Cas then goes to check on Sam.
"You good, Sammy?"
"Yeah, I'm good. You?"
"Yup." Dean turns to Jack now. "Thanks, kid. You saved all our asses." He pulls Jack into a hug. Jack hugs him back.
"You're welcome, Dean."
"Let's get the hell outta here," Dean says, making his way for the exit, grabbing Cas's hand along the way. "I still have a food run to make."
Cas laughs a little.
"Don't be laughing at me Cas, you love me."
"I do, Dean. Very much. You ridiculous idiot."
"Hey! Rude," Dean says like he's offended but he's grinning at Cas.
They continue their silly banter all the way to the store. All four of them go there, to get food they want.
Because they earned it after that whole ordeal.