Author's note: Hey, guys! Yes, this is a filler chapter, BUT it needed to come in because I needed a transition for the next part of her new life.
Thank you again for all of the reads! You guys are so supportive and darling! If you have any suggestions, criticisms, compliments, questions please, please please comment!
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This next update will be better, I promise!! Thanks so much for reading!!
Casey gasped awake and found her face hitting into a firm surface. She realized that she was being laid down. She looked up and was greeted with confused blue eyes. "Cas?"
"Um, yes." He finished putting her down, his face was saturated in chagrin. Casey looked around and realized she was in her own bed back in the bunker. "You were asleep," Cas explained slowly. He hadn't planned on her waking up so early, although the fact that she hadn't woken up in the car the whole ride was a minor miracle in itself. Castiel found himself fidgeting three hours in; he figured she would've woken up by his bouncing legs alone. Long drives made Cas yearn for his wings even more than usual.
"How'd we get here so fast?" Casey rubbed her eyes. "Where are my brothers?" One second she was asleep in the motel and the next Castiel was putting her in her own bed. And he couldn't zap anymore
"You were asleep the whole time," Castiel explained shortly. He wasn't lying. Casey had been asleep the whole time, he just didn't think she needed to know that it was angel-induced. Although he didn't want to tell her where Sam and Dean were. They were in the bunker, but he knew they hadn't had nearly enough time to completely remove anything that Casey might use to harm herself. Cas knew he had to stall, but he wasn't entirely sure how. He couldn't leave Casey alone, she was too vulnerable and her room hadn't been cleared. And, being a hunter, Castiel was sure she would have hidden at least three knives and a gun around her room. The bunker was supposedly monster proof, but hunters never took anything on word alone. They were always armed. He couldn't leave her and she couldn't leave the room. Not until one of the brothers had given the word. "They're busy." Was that really all he could come up with?
Casey raised an eyebrow. "They're busy?" Casey sat straight up. Castiel was hiding something, and 'they're busy' was not about to cut the mustard. "Busy with what, Cas?
"Cleaning," Cas said shortly. Again, not a lie, only nonspecific.
"Is that so? Dean is cleaning?" Dean didn't clean. If the bunker was going to be cleaned it would either be Sam or her doing the cleaning. Usually her because they'd left her alone on a hunt they deemed was too dangerous.
"I assume it's mostly Sam," Cas admitted after some consideration. In normal circumstances it would be mostly Sam, but Dean would go to the ends of the Earth to protect his family. Cas was sure he was being as thorough, if not more, than Sam. Dean's first stop as soon as they'd walked in was removing the armory from his walls. Although he loved his personalized bedroom, family came first.
"I'm going to talk to him." Casey swung her legs off the bed, but Cas picked them up and swung her back onto the mattress before her feet touched the ground. Casey grunted. "Cas, what the hell?"
"It's better for you to stay here for the moment," Castiel objected. He placed himself in front of her legs so she couldn't move them past him. If she were to attempt to get off the bed she would have to dive forward onto her hands and crawl, which would be inefficient and he would be able to pick her up before she had the chance to leave the room. Trying to rush past an angel was pointless.
Casey frowned. "I'm seeing my brother, Castiel. Move," she ordered. Castiel didn't scoot an inch. "Cas," she growled. "Let me see Sam." Her face was taking on an angry blush across her nose and cheeks.
"You're too weak," he insisted. There was no sense in that statement, although it did seem like a good reason were it believable.
"No, I'm not. You healed me. Why don't you want me to see him?" Casey figured that after such an eventful day everyone would want her to be around her family even more than usual.
Castiel sighed and rubbed a hand across his forehead. He couldn't tell her what they were doing. She would be furious and insist that she was fine, probably including tears to move them in her favor. If there was anything Sam and Dean couldn't take it was the tears of their baby sister. Casey was surprised she wasn't spoiled rotten because of it. Even if it's pretty hard for a poor kid to be spoiled, she could've milked it for all she was worth.
"Because, they're busy. Dean brought home a woman and Sam is doing research." So those were blatant lies, but Cas didn't see anyway around it. Both were normal things for each of them to do.
Casey relaxed herself down. "Ew. TMI," Casey conceded. She paused a moment, then sat back up. "I'll help Sam. I need to talk to him."
Castiel silently swore in Enochian. He really thought that would've worked. Maybe he should've said Sam had a woman. He didn't very often and it wasn't very believable, especially after recent events, but it was a better excuse than cleaning. Castiel sighed. "Sam can't talk to you right now. He'll come talk when he's done."
"Done with what?" Casey was suspicious. Why didn't Castiel want her to see her brother? After everything yesterday she figured he'd want her to get as much support as possible, but the stressed look on his face almost made her drop the subject. Almost. "Cas, I want to talk to my brother. Please?"
"Why don't you talk to me? I've always enjoyed our talks," Castiel suggested. He knew Casey enjoyed them too, although he also knew this was different.
"Because Sam understands what I'm going through. Sam understands how pain can make things... real. It brings me back to Earth and Sam gets that. He did it with the scar when Lucifer was screwing with him. I just kind of do it in a different way to cope with different pain. Sam understands what you and Dean don't this time," Casey admitted. She felt bad pointing out Castiel's emotional or verbal shortcomings, but she had to get her point across. She wanted to talk to her brother. He wanted to allow her to, but he wanted her to be safe. He didn't want her wandering the bunker alone with all the weapons they had laying around, even if she was just going to talk to Sam. She might sneak a knife into her pocket. Winchesters were trained to sneak, it didn't take an expert to figure that out.
"I'm sorry, Casey. You just need to wait right now," he concluded. Angels didn't need sleep, but he felt exhausted. Casey huffed, realizing that there was no way she was going to be able to talk to her brother until Castiel decided she could. Castiel sat on the end of the bed and looked at Casey, trying to read her face for emotions. All he saw was sadness. It was saturated her features until it was practically dripping from her pores. He wanted to know what she was thinking, but it would be rude to look. So he decided to ask instead. "How are you, Casey?" Casey looked up at him, skepticism showing in her lowered eyebrows.
"Why?"
"Because I want to know if you're okay." It was like her entire family was allergic to that question. It was a simple question. He just wanted to know how she felt.
"Do you think I'm okay?" She sounded just like Dean. Her angry face looked like his too. She had tiny habits she picked up from both of the brothers. If you spent an hour with the three of them you could pick out which brother she was emulating each time, whether it be body language or how they dealt with their emotions. Casey took the Dean route in the emotional department; destruction.
"I would assume from your sarcasm and the events from last night, no. But why aren't you feeling okay now? You have a support system now and you don't have to keep this a secret anymore."
Casey looked down and pulled her knees to her chest. She pulled a blanket up around her, tucking her toes tight. "I didn't want a support system, Cas," she growled. "I wanted to be left alone and doing what I wanted. Now everybody knows. The biggest secret of my life and everybody knows. Sam wasn't even supposed to tell anybody in the first place, and now you know and my other brother freakin' knows!" Her voice began to rise. Her eyes shot daggers into Castiel. "Now we have to stop hunting and they took my knife away. They're never going to trust me again and it's my fault! Now they're gonna want to babysit me and never leave me alone. I'm fifteen, Cas. I need my privacy. I don't want some makeshift hospital suicide watch. I just want things to be normal. I'm not okay, Castiel. I'm pissed."
He could see tears start to build in her eyes and he felt bad for her. She didn't even know about the other restrictions yet and already she was overwhelmed by them. Sam and Dean were the most concerned about her curling iron, but Castiel had a feeling that wasn't going to be her biggest issue. He believed being stuck without a hunt for however long would be her biggest trial. "They just want to keep you safe, Cassandra. It will be hard at first, but in the end it will be better this way." He rested a hand on her leg in an effort to comfort her. His people skills were rusty, but he knew touch was always helpful when somebody was sad. He scrutinized her face. She looked up and blinked to keep herself from crying, another Dean trait. She brought her head back down after a minute, eyes mostly dry, but still red.
"I'm so goddamn scared, Cas," she whispered, pulling her legs even closer and wrapping her arms around them. Castiel placed his hand back on his lap and folded them.
"I know you are. But we're going to make sure this is okay."
"We are," a voice confirmed from the doorway. Casey looked up from her toes.
"Sam!" She smiled widely. Dean peaked around the corner and walked past Sam and leaned on the doorway. "Dean! Where have you guys been?" Her smile faded as she thought about the last twenty-four hours they'd just had together. Her excitement vanished and her stomach fell to her tailbone.
"We've been out there." Sam walked in and gave her a soft smile. Immediately Casey knew something else was up. "Can we talk in the library?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Why don't we just talk in here?"
"There's more room for everybody in the library," Sam lied smoothly.
"I'd rather talk in here," she maintained.
Dean ran a hand over his short hair. His frustration and exhaustion were catching up to him. "Casey, we're going to the library? Either you come or I'm gonna carry you," he threatened. Casey raised her eyebrows and smirked, daring him. Dean shook his head and walked over to his little sister, picked her up, and swung her over his shoulder.
"Dean!" she yelled. She punched his back, embarrassed to have her butt in the air.
"I told you we were going to the library," he retorted.
Casey laughed. She hadn't been carried like this in ages. She knew she was too old to be carried, but that was part of why she did it. She wanted to feel young and happy again. And if that meant being upside down while your brother marched you into another room then so be it. It was childish and probably even a little selfish to play games or test his convictions, but it made her feel like her family didn't know her dark secret anymore. Like they still saw her as the peachy Casey they'd seen only two days ago.
Dean walked through the hallway and into the library, hopping on the step down to bounce his little sister. She grunted and let out a laugh that reminded him of when she was little. She was still extremely young, but she hadn't had much of a childhood. Maybe that was part of what caused her problem. Sammy did say it sounded a lot like depression. He also said that it couldn't be fixed with some love and happiness, but Dean figured it wouldn't hurt to toss some in there anyway.
Dean threw her down on the couch and she let out all her air in a loud whoosh and smiled up at her brother. "Jerk."
"That's my line," Sam cut in, passing Dean to sit beside Casey on the couch.
Dean looked at Sam. "Bitch," he said affectionately and rolled his eyes. Dean pulled a soft chair in closer to Sam and Casey, putting them in a private triangle.
Casey assessed the room and noticed something was missing. "Where's Cas?"
"He'll be here in a minute," Sam assured her and rested a hand on her knee. Castiel was searching Casey's bedroom for potential weapons. Where Sam and Dean might find themselves uncomfortable by whatever they might find, Castiel was pretty good at remaining neutral to all things they might consider disturbing for their sister to have. Sam voted for Castiel partially because he knew that if Casey had a journal and he was the one to find it he wouldn't be able to help himself from reading it. He also wanted Cas to do it because he would make completely sure that there was nothing she could hurt herself with as well as making sure everything he hadn't confiscated was placed exactly where it was before. Castiel could be anal to a fault, sometimes it was nice to have it to their advantage every now and then. "Dean and I have to talk to you first though. Privately."
Casey swallowed thickly. Privately. That word was never a word used in fond sentiments. Casey originally only wanted to speak with Sam, but having Castiel in the room was sounding more appealing after finding out they didn't want him in. "Cas can come," she said quietly, scooting away from Sam some.
"Casey, we gotta talk. We gotta set up some ground rules. Cas is just helping us make sure everything is in place," Dean explained.
Casey raised her eyebrow. "Ground rules?" Here it came. She knew that her privacy was going to be gone. She wished her body was all screwed up so that when they broke the news that they were never going to trust her again she could go to the bathroom and cut some more and they wouldn't be able to tell.
"Yeah, Casey," Sam sighed. "Ground rules."