They were in the deli eating their sandwiches when it happened. Cas started straight up hyperventilating in the middle of his sentence, his palms shaking and face red as he turned away from the tables to face the window.
Dean frowned, scanning the crowd that Cas was afraid of. Nothing. "Cas," he asked urgently, reaching out and taking his soulmate's hand, "what happened?"
Cas didn't reply, Dean doubted that he could in the state he was. The Milton squeezed his eyes shut, shaking visibly.
"Cas, talk to me. Are you okay? What happened to you?"
Still there was no answer, and Dean scanned the crowd once more. There were the normal amount of people here, nothing special. Two soulmates out for a date, a mother and her kids, a huge blonde woman, a-
Wait.
Holy shit.
Holy shit.
Cas was to the state of a mental breakdown, and Dean turned red when he realized what was going on. Breathing deeply and forcing himself to stay calm, he dialed Kate's number- he had it on speed dial for situations exactly like this- and didn't even bother saying hello when she picked up.
"We have Cas's rapist sitting less than 10 yards away from us. Tell us what to do."
*****
Kate was surprisingly calm about the whole situation.
"Okay," she replied without missing a beat, and Dean had the sudden urge to reach over the phone and strangle her. How was she not freaking out?
"Okay," she repeated, her voice suddenly changing into something more concrete, businesslike, "Listen to me very carefully. I'm going to call the police. I'm assuming that Cas is with you because you said 'us', so what I want you to do is to keep Cas away from her so she doesn't see him-make him go home if you have to-and just keep her where you can see her right up until she gets arrested. I'm going to put you on hold for a few moments, and call the police now." There was a click, and the line went silent.
Dean, with the phone still pressed to his ear, turned to Cas, who was looking out the window, face red and breathing heavily, and tried not to panic. A bubble of hysteria rose in his stomach, getting bigger and bigger as he clutched the phone in his hands so tightly that he was sure that he was going to break it. He swiveled his head around to stare at the woman, Agnesse, her name was, who was calmly drinking her tomato soup like she was a normal civilian and not someone who had raped a 20 year old boy on his birthday. Although the permanent scowl on her face and the dirt smudged on her cheeks was getting a few curious looks by that 5 year old boy sitting with his mom next to them, no one could've guessed that she was something very different than just an unpleasant woman.
The world was funny that way.
"Dean?" Kate spoke suddenly, "I've called the police. Have you gotten Cas out of the way?" Dean was frozen to the spot, unable to snap himself out of his trance, and couldn't do anything but stare at Agnesse.
She was wearing jeans that were scuffed at the end and a thick green sweater to protect herself from the December cold, although the sweater had a few small holes in it. She had long blonde hair that was tied up in a single braid down her back. Dean barely had time to wonder what she was doing back here, having run away after-
"Dean?" she asked again. "Dean, are you okay? Are you there? Is anyone hurt?"
"Dean," Cas hissed urgently, suddenly grabbing his hand, and Dean jumped because his soul mate's hand was really cold and shit, he needed to move and do what Kate was saying. He blinked, getting up way too fast and trying to keep a watchful eye on Cas and the woman at the same time. "Dean, what do we do?"
"Dean?" Kate rose her voice, and a sliver of panic slipped through her calm and professional demeanor.
Dean Dean Dean Dean Dean Dean Dean Dean Dean Dean
God, what's wrong with me?
With that thought, he found it in himself to mumble back. "Yeah?"
Kate let out a tiny, almost inaudible sigh. "Do what I told you to do. Get Cas out of there and don't let her out of your sight." There was a click, and the line went dead.
Get Cas out of there. Right.
Don't let her out of my sight. Right.
Right.
Shit.
It's all up to me.
That snapped him completely back, into action. "Cas," he proclaimed, probably way too loudly, because people from the other tables looked over at him. Cas looked up at him solemnly, awaiting instructions like a little boy with his huge too blue eyes unblinking, the whole image painfully reminding Dean of the moments after his soulmate's rape, when Dean had set him on the counter and pressed the vinegar into his bruises. The wounds had healed up eventually, obviously.
The ones on the inside were a different story.
Peeking over at Agnesse and finding that she wasn't even halfway done with her sandwich, Dean grabbed Cas's hand and led him outside wordlessly, sneaking glances at her every few seconds or so. Maybe he was being paranoid, but they had looked for the woman for than 4 months, and now that they had found her, he wasn't letting her out of his sight.
"Listen," Dean started once they were outside in the freezing air, talking as he helped Cas with his coat because no way was his soulmate in any state to do, well, anything. He positioned Cas in a way so that his back was facing her so that he could keep an eye on her and she wouldn't see Cas. "I know you want to stay here, but you can't." Cas didn't say anything, but just glared at him, his cheeks and nose pink from the cold. "She'll see you and try to run again, and you shouldn't be here anyway. This isn't good for you." His voice hoarse, Dean gave Cas a pat on his shoulder, "You say that you're over it, buddy, but..." he trailed off, gesturing to Cas's shaking hands and his red face that had nothing to do with the cold and the terrified look on his face.
"I'm not leaving, Dean," Cas hissed, surprisingly firm.
"Cas, please. She might see you-"
"Then we'll catch her." he shot back stubbornly, crossing his arms, still looking terrified as hell but adamant on his decision too. Dean knew that there was no swaying Cas, he was one of the most stubborn son-of-a-bitch in the world.
He tried anyway. "Cas-"
"Dean, I love you, but this is my life, and this is my choice. I am the only one who makes my decisions. Not you, not my parents, not Anna, not Kate, me. I'm not the same Cas you met a year ago, okay? I may not have been through nearly as many hardships as you have in your life, but I am every bit as strong as you, both mentally and physically. I can handle this, and I'll stay out of her sight so she won't run, I get it, but I'm not leaving. "
Dean nodded, at a loss for words on what to say. This was...not expected. But then again, Cas had been surprising him a lot these days.
Cas, suddenly strengthened by some powerful unknown force, grabbed at Dean's coat to pull him forward by it and kiss him fiercely, then stepped back and giving him a grin and a thumbs up, ran off to sit at the outside tables of the coffee shop 2 doors down, leaving only footprints in the white snow. Dean stared. His soulmate was a freaking badass.
Cas gave him a look that told him to get back at keeping an eye on Agnesse, so with a wave, he went back inside the deli and sat down at his table.
Shit.
The woman, she was getting up. She had finished her sandwich and soup when Cas and Dean had been outside and...shit.
Stall her, stall her, stall her.
How the hell do I stall her? I'm a complete stranger to her!
Then Dean remembered that she was a rapist.
Thinking fast, or, as Cas would call it later on, panicking and instead of making a rational decision, not thinking at all, Dean rushed forward and plopped down on the seat across from Agnesse's chair.
Oh. My. God.
What the hell am I doing?!
Well, there was no backing out now. Agnesse had seen him and was scrutinizing him, squinting her green eyes and looking him up and down. She looked even bigger because she was standing up, hovering over him, and Dean had to resist the urge to shudder. His heart pounded a million beats per minute wildly, he was surprised that he even had it in him to speak at that moment.
When did I become like this? I'm usually so brave.
He answered the question for himself
Since I've had so much to lose. Since I fell in love with Cas. Before it was just Sam, now it's Sam, and Jess, and Anna, and Eric, and...and...Cas.
Apparently she liked what she saw- and God that was a repulsive thought- because she grinned, showing off her dirty teeth, and sat down, leering at him.
"What do you want, pretty boy?" she drawled, and Dean almost threw up.
Oh, he was a goner.
*********************************
"Yeah, I offer those type of," Dean paused, pretending to look around and leaning in closer as if he was telling her a secret (holding his breath while doing so because she smelled like a goddamn sewer), "services," he dropped his voice to a whisper, not believing what the hell was coming out of his mouth.
There was a glint in Agnesse's eyes, and she leaned even closer and placed her hand on his, grinning. Dean knew that he was going to scrub that hand raw, and suddenly, he understood Cas's obsession with cleaning himself. She had only touched part of his hand, but for Cas, she had touched...
Dean couldn't bring himself to think about it.
Scooting even closer, Agnesse dropped her voice to a low whisper, "Why me?"
Oh. So she wanted to either get an ego boast or get it down and dirty right there in the deli. Probably both. Dean glanced behind her, towards the door and saw 2 police cars parked outside.
He took his sweet time to respond, acting as if he was genuinely thinking about it. Dean flashed her his best shit eating grin, teeth and all, and leaned backwards in his chair, taking his hand back. She followed his every moment hungrily, eating his act right up. Out of the corner of his eye, Dean saw 5 or so police officers close in around the deli. The bell jingled as 2 tall buff officers walked inside, and that gave Dean the strength and confidence that he needed.
"Cause you raped the love of my life, you bitch."
She blinked once, twice, thrice, and her face twisted into shock, panic, terror, and rage in a matter of seconds. Her eyes widened 5 times their regular size, and whirling around, saw the 2 police officers closing on her. Faster than Dean could blink, she pushed past the officers- damn she was strong-and ran.
*********************************
She was probably arrested already inside the deli, no way could she have pushed past those officers and ran.
Cas sighed, drawing his coat more tightly around him in the cold. He had felt so brave back there when he had made that little speech to Dean, but right now he just felt tired and lonely and cold. He debated on whether or not to actually go inside the coffee shop and order something, but decided against it in paranoia that something actually happened.
He thought that he had gotten over his fear of her long long ago, but seeing her today, it had done something to him. Terror had gripped his insides tightly, its icy fingers almost suffocating him. This wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to be strong. He was okay now, guess it went away when he stopped staring at her and remembering everything about that horrible night, and...and...and...he just basically wanted to punch her in the face at this point.
Speak of the devil, suddenly, the door to the deli burst open and out came Agnesse, running widely. Dean and 3 of the officers ran behind her- the other 2 ran to the car to catch her using that source- and Cas realized that she was running towards the coffee shop.
That wasn't very smart.
Suddenly filled with adrenaline, Cas jumped the barrier in between the chairs of the coffee shop and outside, and positioned himself right in front of where she was hoping to run past. Dean's eyes widened when he realized what his soulmate was doing and yelled out, "Cas, no!"
That turned out to be just what he needed, because Agnesse swiveled her face around while still running towards the noise, and when she turned around again, she was met with Cas right in her face, and a millisecond later, his fist colliding hard into her nose, making a satisfying crunching noise. She groaned loudly in pain, clutching her nose, and although the police had already gotten ahold of her, Cas with his newfound rage kicked her just as hard in the crotch. Ignoring the yells of the officers, and Agnesse, for that matter, to stop (but none from Dean), he immediately kicked her again in the crotch, and she screamed out a string of colorful creative curses.
Dean intervened then, pulling him back, but that was okay, that was okay, because Cas was done. He didn't need to do anything else.
He was done.
He laughed out loud, a hysterical laugh, and he didn't care that everyone in the street was watching and thinking that he was some kind of madman as well, laughing loudly as a woman got her face shoved into the snow and handcuffs locked around her as one officer read her her rights. He didn't care, because he was done.
He was aware of Dean holding him tightly against his chest, but he didn't try to pull away or anything. Yeah, he wasn't a baby, and yeah, he was strong, but right now, he wanted Dean, and needing someone didn't correlate with weakness. Cas wished he had knew that months ago, years ago. He wish he had known how strong he was. How strong he had the power to be. He had the power to kick his rapist's ass. The old Cas would've never done that. Then again, he wasn't the old Cas anymore.
Agnesse was dragged away to the police's car, screaming and resisting. Her sounds stopped abruptly as the officer slammed the door shut after forcing her inside. Dean kissed his temple fiercely, and whispered into his ear, "It's over Cas. It's over."
Cas laughed out loud again, and the laugh turned into a sob. He felt like the biggest weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and turned around to see that Dean was crying too, silent tears dripping down his face.
"It's over, Dean," Cas repeated back to his soulmate, and another relieved sob escaped out of his mouth, "It's really over."
Hey! Reminder that this takes a bit more in the future, so I have to assume that the human rights and liberalism in the future is far more advanced than I. That being said, the whole rape advocate job and police lining up to help you is more fiction that fact, unfortunately. However, if you are in this kind of situation, please go to the police or seek a professional. You will get help.