Chapter Text
Dean clung tight to his brother’s hand, letting the solid wall of muscle take the lead despite it going against every big brother instinct in his body. After all, he was half-starved and four-fifths dehydrated, and his brain was working just well enough to tell him his body wasn’t going to hold up to much fighting. It wasn’t working well enough to understand Sam’s explanation for why he was working with one of Dean’s captors top lieutenants, but he’d worked out that Sam was utterly convinced that he was truly on their side and helping. If nothing else, Michael had nothing to gain from setting Dean up to escape; if he’d wanted Sam captured, he could’ve done so by now.
Dean flinched as Castiel opened a door, allowing bright sunlight into the tunnel they were walking through. It had been two months since he’d seen it and had forgotten just how bright it was. Sam reached back with his free hand, and a glint caused a few of Dean’s brain cells to fire. He reached out and grabbed Sam’s hand, staring at the ring on it. “What the hell? When did this happen?”
“Uh… it’s kind of a long story, and we do need to get a little further,” Sam said apologetically. “Not far now to where we left the horses, and then it’s about an hour ride to shelter. I’ll explain everything – again – there.” Not what Dean wanted to hear, but he took a few steps forward. Then it was Sam’s turn to stop, flinching as he looked Dean over. “What the hell did they do to you? You’re basically one big scarred bruise!”
Dean shrugged. “Honestly, it all kinda blurs together. Don’t think either of us want me getting into details, especially not here.”
A throat clearing interrupted them, and Castiel put a hand on Sam’s arm. “I did warn you what we were likely to find when I came to find you. The reasons I was working against Michael despite my oaths.”
“I know, I just…” Sam forced a deep breath and, with great effort, turned his head back to the tunnel entrance. “I wasn’t prepared to see it, you know? It’s fine, I’ll be fine, let’s get going.”
The horses were penned about a mile away, and although it was a struggle for Dean, Sam and Castiel managed to get him there and up on the horse they’d brought for him. The ride ended up being more than the hour Sam had promised, although Dean wasn’t going to hold it against him too much – the reason it took so long was that they kept having to slow down to help him. He wasn’t that impressed with their idea of shelter – a root cellar on a farm that was well enough stocked not to be abandoned. He didn’t say anything, though – there wasn’t much point. He couldn’t go much farther.
Castiel pulled the cover off a chest, opening it to reveal blankets and pillows. He set to work making a bed for Dean, leaving the brothers to talk. “So. Castiel. Where’d you find him?”
“He found me.” Sam reached up and gently pushed a bit of Dean’s hair out of his eyes. “I swear I’m not trying to duck the conversation we need to have, but are you sure you want to do it now instead of after some sleep?”
“I’m not gonna be able to sleep in his presence until you convince me I won’t wake up back in that cell with you in the one across the hall,” Dean insisted. Fair enough, Sam’s face said for him. “Convince me. What’re the two of you doing working together?”
“Castiel took off to find me about a week after you were captured.” Sam winced, eyes dropping. “He wouldn’t tell me what he’d seen Uriel do to you, but when he talked to his superior and she confirmed that he was doing exactly as instructed by Michael, he couldn’t contain his doubts anymore. So he came to find me. It took a long time, and then we had to figure out how to get back in. Anna – Castiel’s superior – had promised to cover for his absence by reporting that he was on a special assignment to investigate a disappearance on the borders with Gabriel’s land, but being caught with me…”
“Yeah, that’s not ending well. Don’t need to hear about the rescue just now. Still don’t trust Cas, but you do, and I can’t explain right now because there’s too much to go into but him working with Anna is enough I’ll be able to sleep.” Dean stared pointedly at Sam’s hand with the gold ring. “So who’s got the other one?”
“It, uh…” Sam reddened a little. “It’s not what you think. I’m not… I don’t…” He paused, took a deep breath, and continued, “It’s real, but it’s not.”
Dean rolled his eyes. “Sammy, I am incredibly stupid right now. I’m starving, in a ton of pain, and really, really need you to finish your thoughts in a way that makes sense, okay?”
“Right.” Sam glanced over to where Castiel was digging out food. “Castiel has the other ring. We’re not married out of any sort of deep feelings for each other or anything. It’s just that if we got caught, me being Castiel’s husband means they have to treat me like a citizen, not a prisoner of war. So it’s real, in that it is a legally binding marriage and all, but it’s not in that once we’re done rescuing you, he’ll go his way and you and I go ours and we’ll probably never see each other again.”
Dean might be half-starved and desperate to get to bed, but he wasn’t stupid enough to miss the tone of his little brother’s voice. His big sap of a romantic brother had gone and caught real feelings for this dude. “Or he comes with us, we use his marriage to you the same way you were gonna use your marriage to him to get you treated like a citizen, and I’m sure the military will have a ton of questions for him but you know I’m not gonna let my brother be treated too badly.”
“By anyone but you, anyway,” Sam muttered, and Dean pretended not to hear it because he couldn’t really argue. “I’ll invite him, but I can’t imagine he’ll want to come. Once we stop and get the… the divorce, he can come back here and keep working with Anna on reforming from the inside.”
“Maybe.” Dean glanced over at Castiel. He had no idea how the dude felt about Sam, after all. For him, maybe this was still a simple means to an end. “Just wanted to remind you that the option’s on the table, and once I’m rested, I will kick your ass if you pull your self-sacrificing bullshit and don’t at least tell him you want him to stay.”
Sam nodded, but there wasn’t time to respond before Castiel came back over. He handed Dean some dried bread and fruit, and a waterskin. “Don’t try to eat or drink too much just yet, I don’t want you getting sick on top of your other problems, but you need this before you sleep. When you’re ready, the bed is.”
Dean shoved half the dried bread into his mouth, getting a fond eyeroll from Sam. It was worth the slight nausea once it hit his stomach. “Not going to bed until you promise to listen when my little brother talks to you about something important.”
“I will always listen to whatever Sam has to talk to me about,” Castiel promised.
And now Dean was going to bed sure that he was going to wake up to having a new brother, because the man was so damned earnest about it that there was no way he didn’t feel the same. He drank about half the water and ate the rest of the bread, setting the fruit aside. “G’night.”