Would You Say I'm Worth It

Homecoming

Sam and Cas sat the table, engaged in conversation. Dean leans on the kitchenette counter, beer in hand, eyes unmoving from Cas.

"Unbelievable, man. I can't believe it. You're actually here!" Sam said. He couldn't control his smile.

Cas smiled back, shyly. "Yeah, I've been trying to reach out, but for whatever reason, I wasn't at full power. So I couldn't connect with you." His eyes traveled to Dean as the word 'you' left his lips.

"That must have been why you kept seeing him. I mean, you think?" Sam directed the question to his brother, who finally looked away from Cas. He stared at the amber colored bottle in his hand.

"Yeah. Yeah, uh, I got to be honest. I'm thinking, how the hell did you make it out? I mean, I was there. I know that place. I know how we had to scratch and claw and kill and bleed to find that portal and make it through it, and it almost finished me. So, uh... so how exactly are you sitting here with us right now?" Dean questioned, almost accusing, his intense stare coming back up to Cas. Sam looked away from them both, focusing on the cobweb in the corner of the room.

"Dean, everything you just said is completely true. And that's the strange part..." Cas paused before continuing. "I have no idea. I remember endlessly running and hiding from Leviathans, and then I was on the side of the road in Illinois. And... that was it." Cas throws his hands up in surrender.
Dean had every right to question this. Him being here - it wasn't possible, yet here he sat. He knew someone or something had brought him out, he remembered this...presence. A powerful, unknown presence. It was just out of his reach within his memories. But he didn't want to share that with the Winchester brothers, not just yet. He had just gotten back with the gang, he didn't want it to immediately turn into a witch hunt. That was something for another day.

"And that – that was it?" Dean sneered.

"Yes." Cas snapped back. Both brothers raised their eyebrows at the reply.

There is a long pause, Dean throws back another swig of beer and Sam slowly opens his laptop.

Cas broke the silence. "Oh." He said looking down at his chest.  "I'm dirty."

Dean shrugged, before taking the last drink of his beer, setting the empty bottle on the counter. "Yeah, well, Purgatory will do that to you."

Cas walks towards the bathroom, shoulder brushing Dean's as he passes. Dean went over and sat opposite of Sam.
The younger brother waited to hear the bathroom door click shut, and the squeal of the pipes in the shower as hot water tumbled out. 

"Dean?" He whispered, scooting his laptop to the side, leaning onto his elbows on the table.

"Huh?"

"You all right?" He continued in a hushed tone, the drone of the shower still in the background.

Dean glanced at the bathroom door, before turning to face Sam, mirroring in leaning on the table.

"You do see something...severely wrong here, right? Sammy, I remember every second of leaving that place. I mean, I remember the – the heat, the stink, the pain, the fear. I have that whole ugly mess right here," Dean taps his finger on the side of his head before continuing "-and he says he has no idea how he got out? I'm just not buying it." He leaned back in his chair, rubbing a hand over his face.

"So what, you think he's lying?" Sam asked.

"I'm saying something else happened. I saw the shape that he was in. I mean, there was no way he was fighting his ass out alone. No way." Dean stared out into the room, not at anything in particular, just thinking.

Sam looked at his hands and he picked his cuticles. "All right. So, who... or what got him out?"

"Exactly." Dean replied.