#kathaswings

“No way am I missing out on this.” Charlie wiggled between Dean and you, and the four of you stood in a group hug in the middle of the bar.

A minute later, the hug unraveled and the four of you sat at the table. Dean asked what was new in your lives, so you caught him up on your crazy work schedule, Charlie’s never-ending dating life, and the new dog that your other roommate had adopted. Sam perked up at that last part and you promised to introduce him to the fuzzy, furry hairball of a puppy before they left town.

“So, where’s this friend you wanted to introduce us to?” You asked, sipping on the soda you’d ordered. “The newest member of your super elite Impala Squad?”

“Impala Squad?” Sam choked out, laughing. “Do you realize what you’ve just done?”

Dean nodded thoughtfully, ignoring his brother. “I like that. The Impala Squad.” He smacked Sam’s shoulder excitedly with the back of his hand. “Dude! We should start a band and name it The Impala Squad!”

“Thanks, Y/N,” Sam sneered jokingly, giving you his best bitch face. “He’s never going to let this go.”

“Really though, where is this new guy?” Charlie redirected the conversation back onto track. “I was excited to meet him. You two made it seem like we’d all be great friends.”

Dean sobered up slightly and glanced over at the bar. “He’s had a rough few days and wasn’t feeling up to socializing.”

“Cas isn’t usually up to socializing anyway,” Sam butts in. “Great guy, but he definitely needs to work on his people skills.”

You follow Dean’s eyes to where a man sits at the end of the bar. A light tan coat was thrown over the back of the barstool and his white shirt was slightly rumbled. Even from this far away, you could see that the deep blue tie he wore loosely around his neck matched his eyes. As you were taking stock of him, he glanced over and caught your gaze for a brief moment. In those few seconds, you could have sworn that you saw straight through to his soul.

“He’s usually a pretty happy dude,” Dean was saying when you came back to yourself.

“Yet in his eyes, all the sadness in the world,” you mumbled, unaware that you were even speaking.

“Huh?”

You turned your attention back to your friends, catching Charlie’s understanding look. You’d watched Phantom of the Opera so many times together, that she immediately knew exactly what you meant. Castiel might be a pretty happy dude most of the time, but there was something in his past that left him a tortured soul.

“I’m going to go talk to him.”

“Y/N,” Dean reached out for you when you stood up, grabbing your hand. “He really has had a bad few days.”

“I know. But Dean, this is what I do. You guys are recruiters who talk college graduates into working for your firm, and I’m a psychologist who talks people into talking who don’t want to talk. And you know what? They usually feel better after talking to me.” You glanced over at Cas again and felt a pull towards him. “Besides, he needs someone to talk to.”

You squeezed Dean’s fingers once and pulled away, walking over to the figure hunched over the bar, nursing his drink.

He caught sight of you coming closer and a slight scowl. “I don’t know what the Winchesters told you, but I don’t really want to meet anyone new tonight.”

So, it wasn’t just socializing tonight, then. There was a hang up on meeting other people. Bringing new people into his life.

“Oh, I know. They told me.” You slid onto the barstool next to him and signaled for the bartender. “Hi, I’d like a virgin strawberry daiquiri for myself, and whatever he wants next.”

“You don’t have to—”

“What do you want, Cas?” You weren’t about to take no for an answer.

He held your eyes for a moment longer before giving in and tapping the rim of his glass. The cute bartender nodded her understanding and set to work. In no time at all, she set your glasses down in front of you and you slid her some cash. “Thank you… sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Chantelle.”

“Thank you, Chantelle,” you said with a genuine smile.

A minute passed in silence before Cas broke it. “Do you always do that? Get people’s names?”

“Yeah.” You kept your answers light and casual, with just the right amount of teasing. “I typically always want to meet new people. But it’s not for everyone,” you shrugged. Cas just grunted and turned back to his drink.

Twisting the barstool around, you watched the few people on the dance floor for a few more minutes, sipping at your drink. Your silence would pull Cas out of his shell. You were sure of it. People who told their friends they didn’t want to talk, typically just didn’t want to talk to them. Complete strangers, however…

“Virgin daiquiri?” He finally asked.

You bit down a grin, glanced at him briefly, then turned your attention back to the dance floor. “Yeah. I’m on call this week.”

“On call? What do you do?”

“I’m a psychologist. If the hospital gets an emergency tonight that requires my special set of skills, I need to be ready to go.”

He nodded lightly. “Does that happen often here?”

“It seems to happen more and more often,” you whisper, a pang of sorrow hitting your heart.

If you one day found yourself out of a job because your services were no longer needed and everyone was mentally, psychologically, and spiritually healthy, you would be the happiest unemployed person ever. Unfortunately, it seemed like your workload just kept building as more and more people needed you.

“That can’t be easy,” he mused.

You downed the last of your drink and shook your head. “It’s not. But you see it too. I mean, you recruit college kids with Sam and Dean. You see the colossal amount of stress they’re under. The impossible standards they’re held to. Of course, you see them at their best when they’re dressed to impress, but I’m sure you can’t miss the agony and loss in their eyes.”

He shook his head in understanding and cast his eyes down to his glass. The eyes that had the same tortured look you had just been describing.

I bet you see that look every time you look in the mirror.

“But you also get to see them grow,” you continued. “You see these young adults, fresh out of college, stumbling along as they try and figure out the real world. You see their triumphs when they figure out the smallest of details. I bet that’s a pretty great job.”

The corner of his lip twitched, nearly a smile. “Yeah. It’s not too bad.”

“I just feel sorry that you have to ruin that great job by traveling around the country with those two idiots over there. I can’t imagine how many times they’ve dragged you into one of their stupid prank wars.”

At that slight ribbing, Cas actually chuckled, shaking his head fondly. “You’re telling me. I’ve learned how to sleep with one eye open. Did you know they can pick locks? Nowhere is safe.”

“Back in college, I woke up to my entire room covered in shaving cream. Yeah, I know all about their lock-picking shit.”

Cas took another sip of his drink and looked at you head on. “Does it ever get better? Do they ever let up?”

“Sorry, bud. It only gets worse the more you get to know them. Though, I guess you do get to team up with them every once in a while to prank someone else, but… other than that… I suggest you sleep with both eyes open.”

As the night wore on, Cas’s walls broke down even quicker than you had expected. You went from planning pranks for him to pull on the Winchesters, to talking about work, to talking about his dark past with his family. He loved them so much, but they had impossibly high standards that he couldn’t live up to. That he didn’t want to live up to. He didn’t want to be a cookie cutter Novak. He wanted to be his own person, as well he should be.

“Last call!” Chantelle yelled to the patrons who were still lingering. You looked up in shock, surprised that so much time had passed. Charlie and the Winchesters were gone. Normally they would have told you they were leaving, but a text on your phone alerted you that they hadn’t wanted to interrupt your conversation and risk Cas clamming up again.

“Looks like I’m your ride back to your hotel, Cas.”

He stood on unsteady feet and you helped him into his coat. After thanking Chantelle again, you headed out to your car. Dean texted you the hotel name and Cas’s room number when he left, so you knew exactly where to head. The conversation between you two headed into shallower waters on the drive and, before long, you found yourself in front of his hotel room door.

“You call me if you ever want to talk, kay? Or if you need help dealing with the Winchesters.”

He smiled at you as he pulled out his keycard. “Thank you for tonight, Y/N.”

“You’re welcome, Cas.” You hesitated only a moment before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Now go get some sleep so you’re ready to deal with the Winchesters tomorrow. Ten hours in a car with them… I do not envy you at all.”

“Don’t remind me,” he fake-groaned as he opened his door. Just before entering, he looked back at you. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

After the door closed between you, you whispered, “I sure hope so.”

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“But this wasn’t all of them.” The man pointed out, a hand wrapping easily around your entire forearm to slow you down.

Your eyes roll as you yanked your arm free. “I’m well aware. Where do you think I’m going, Sasquatch? Down to the Five and Dime to pick up some nickel candies?” Your tone was sarcastic and thick with your annoyance. He had let go of you and you didn’t bother to look back at him to see his expression. But he was still behind you, following you closely as you reached your car.

You were surprised that you didn’t slip when you spun quickly on your heels to face the stranger once you made it to your little blue jalopy. It might have had something to do with the hand you were bracing against the hood but you liked to play it off as grace. Now that he was standing at his full height before you, you were almost intimidated. Your head had to crane backwards to look at his face and you swallowed a lump that suddenly grew in your throat. You played it off well enough, lifting a finger to point at him and giving your best scowl. “I work alone!”

Without waiting for him to respond, you slid against the car's frame and moved around to the driver’s side. He had the passenger door open before you could even climb in. “They’ve got my brother” He nearly whimpered and good grief, he was pulling out the cutest damn puppy dog eyes you had ever seen. “We’ve gotta save him.” His voice was pleading and you actually felt yourself go weak in the knees when you looked into those big hazel orbs.

Tough girl face once again. “Yeah, well, I’m still trying to get rid of the last thing I saved.” You yelled with exasperation, your hand gesturing in his direction. Instead of the giant puppy dog, his face flattened into what appeared to be his best bitch face at the moment. You held his gaze in silence for a few breathless moments before you growled. “God damnit! Fine! Get in.” Your eyes rolled as you plopped behind the wheel, trying your best to not look at the ridiculous smile that appeared on the man’s face.

“I’m Sam, by the way.” The giant of a man said as your door closed. Your head turned to look at him, slightly dazed at the sight of him. The lights had come on when the doors opened and they wouldn’t go out for another thirty seconds or whenever you broke out of your trance and cranked the engine. And now that you could clearly see him, he truly was gorgeous.

You licked your lips and tasted blood and dirt which brought you out of the fog. You cleared your throat and quickly averted your gaze. This was no time to be distracted. You cranked the car and threw it in gear. Your arm came to rest on the back of the bench seat and you turned to look at him again. “Y/N.” Stated simply before you looked behind you and peeled backwards.

~~

The adventure back at the house proved to be even more exciting than your romp through the muddy field. Your already muddy and bloody clothes were surely no longer salvageable at this point and you probably looked like shit. You felt like shit so it only made sense to look the part. And yet somehow Sam and his brother whom you learned quickly was named Dean, still looked like demigods. It was unfair really. They had got their asses handed to them plenty of times tonight and plenty of times you had saved their tails. You were starting to think all they had was their looks because they weren’t proving to be the best of hunters.

Sam’s hand engulfed yours when you reached out to lift him from his place on the floor. He had a firm grip and when he was on his feet he was standing impossibly close to you. You both seemed to be holding your breath, your hands still clasped together as you locked eyes. It was Dean’s voice that broke you from your moment, both of you letting go and pushing away as Dean came through the door and into view. He stared between the two of you, feeling as though he had interrupted something due to the awkward expressions on your faces. His brow raised, neither of you looking at each other and he allowed the uncomfortable silence to linger for a little while longer.

“Anyway.” Dean finally relieved you of the unbearable quiet with raised brows. He drew closer to his brother, placing a hand on his shoulder and looking him over. When he was satisfied with the physical condition of the taller man, his attention turned to you. “You alright?”

Your face scrunched in response to his question which in turn made him look just as confused. With your eyes glancing between the two brothers who stared at you expectantly, you pondered as to why they cared about the well being of a perfect stranger. You squared your shoulders and put your hard face back on before crossing your arms under your bust. “I’m fine. Clearly better than the two of you.”

In sync, the two of them wrinkled their foreheads in offense. Dean turned to give his brother a look, as if they were having a silent conversation. Sam’s shoulders shrugged right before Dean’s eyes rolled and he spun on his heels to head out of the house. This left you alone in the dark room with the taller brother and the uncomfortable silence fell once again. Your hands fell awkwardly back to your sides, neither of you making eye contact as you looked around at the mess of bodies and broken furniture that surrounded you.

“Guess we should probably start cleaning up…” Your voice was quiet, unsure of what to do or say now. You didn’t usually have partners. Working alone was always the one rule you hated breaking. But you didn’t hate having Sam around. Even though it seemed like you were both awkward around each other, you couldn’t help the warm feeling he provided within you. When your eyes turned to catch his gaze, you saw him staring at your body. Your brow furrowed as you hugged your arms around yourself. “My eyes are up here, pal.”

His eyes rolled and without a word he stepped closer to you. A hand extended out towards you and you flinched back instinctively. He held his hand up in surrender, taking a cautious step forward. “I’m not gonna hurt you.” He assured, his fingers inching toward your abdomen.

It was then that your eyes fell to where his fingers delicately pulled your shirt up. Your eyes grew slightly when you noticed the deep gash across your side. “Well, shit.” The adrenaline seemed to crash all at once, the pain and blood loss taking over quickly. Before you knew it, Sam’s quick reflexes caused his arms to shoot out and catch you as your eyes rolled back in your head. You caught a quick glimpse of the worry on his face before everything went black.

~~

There was no telling how long you were out. But when you finally woke up, your body ached and when you tried to move, a stinging pain shot through your side. Your hand fell to the source of the pain and noticed that it was already cleaned and bandaged. That made you realize that you were only in an oversized tee and your boy shorts. The last thing you remembered was standing in the middle of a massacre and now you were half naked tucked under a blanket. Unfamiliar scents flooded your nose as you pulled the blankets from off your torso.

You made sure to sit up slowly, not wanting to cause more dizziness than what you already felt. You couldn’t help the wince as you spun your legs over the side of the bed. Looking around, you found nothing that you could recognize and it didn’t help to remind you of the events that led you here. The t-shirt fell down over your hips, resting halfway down your thigh as you stood up on bare feet. Across the room, you saw the neat and folded pile of your clothes. At least what was left of them. Your shirt was missing and your boots were pretty scuffed but everything else was clean.

Fingers skimmed lightly over your duffle, your head tilting as you tried to bring back the memories. Everything had happened so fast. The attack in the field, the tall man that followed you to your car, rescuing the shorter yet still tall man, the slaughter of the whole lot of monsters. You all had barely made it out alive. Three against at least 8 in the house. That was after you had already taken on 6 out in the field. This was the biggest nest you had come across on your own. Even though you had nearly rejected the help of the boys, you were starting to think that you should be thanking them right about now.

You were brought from your thoughts when a soft knock sounded against your door. Your head turned and your fingers frantically combed through your hopeless bed hair. “Come in.” You called out, tugging the shirt down farther on your bare thighs.

The door cracked open slowly and a mop of damp chestnut locks came into view. You couldn’t help the smile that came to your face when Sam stepped in timidly. He returned your smile softly as he cautiously moved toward you. “Feeling better?”

A hand came to your side as you looked down at where your wound was hidden. Your shoulders lifted slightly before you locked eyes with his hazel hues that seemed so much brighter now. There were flecks of gold and blue, a swirling pool of color and sparkles and you found yourself lost within the hues. When you realized you were staring longer than necessary, you cleared your throat and nodded your head. “Couldn’t save my shirt though, I see.” You joked lightly causing him to give a soft chuckle.

“Yeah, well, I’m still trying to get rid of the last thing I saved.” His voice was hushed, a playful whisper as he smirked.

“I see what you did there.” You laughed and even though it caused your side to ache you would continue if it meant you would get to hear more of the laugh that echoed yours.

You both got lost in a fit of giggles even though the joke was nowhere near this funny. But the lightness between you two was refreshing and the laughter lifted your spirits and warmed your hearts. You hadn’t noticed how close he had gotten until a large hand lifted to tuck your hair behind your ear. Your entire body froze and all air was sucked from your lungs.