Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

'Jesus fucking-'

'Cas! They're coming!' 

Cas finally pushed the end of his body under the fence.

'Gabe! Quickly!'

Gabriel ducked his head under the fence and flattened to his body to get through.

'Gabriel! Come on! They're gonna fucking kill us!'

'I'm stuck!'

Castiel grabbed Gabriel's hands and pulled them. Gabriel cried out in pain.

'I'm sorry! I'm sorry!' Cas stepped back.  His unblinking eyes remained fixed on Gabriel. He put his hands on his head. Castiel felt his head become light. If Gabriel hadn't said another word he would have fainted.

'Cas just, I can't!'

'No! No Gabe!'

'Just go without me!'

The prison siren began to blare and the search lights were scanning across the fence lines. Cas wanted to cry. He grabbed Gabriel's hands and pulled. 

'Fuck! Stop!' 

Cas stepped back quickly and wrapped his arms around himself. He heard the dogs barking. Then he felt the tears form in his eyes.

'Gabriel...'

'Go.'

Castiel looked up. A group of men were coming towards the fence with the German Shepherds.

'I'm sorry Gabe.'

Castiel turned around and began to sprint across the grassland. Tears continued to fall down his face, but he held in the sobs. Up ahead he could see the street lights, the stores, the houses. Up ahead was the only hope he had left. If he was caught between the prison and the town, he would have had nothing left to live for. Unless of course, they shot him right then and there. The wind began to hit the side of his face. The cold was causing the hairs on his arms to lift up and his hands were numb, but it was the best thing he had felt in months. Suddenly, he could no longer hear the siren- just his heart beating and the blood being pumped into his ears.

After what seemed like a minute, he finally arrived at the edge of town. The first building he saw was a two story house with a yard and a picket fence. In the yard was a large swimming pool covered with a sheet of blue plastic. Outside the stretch of houses were several trees, and Cas found himself hiding behind one. As he sat in the dark, he closed his eyes and began to hear the police sirens- sounding fainter and fainter as they raced to the penitentiary. He looked across the dark green lawn of the house and spied a family of four sitting inside their front room on the sofa watching TV. For some reason, he was curious about what they were watching so intently. The moon appeared behind the dark grey clouds. Castiel knew exactly what he had to do, but that involved Gabriel. And now, Gabriel wasn't with him. 

'10, 10 minutes-' Cas began to whisper his thoughts. '10 minutes to find a car then, wait-' Castiel noticed his hands were shaking. The adrenaline was pumping through him like the blood in his body.

The door began to ring. Carl looked at Stephanie.

'Hmmm. I wonder who it is.'

'You better get it. It could be Frank.'

'Come on Liz. I have to get up.'

He carefully pushed her away from him and stood up. The doorbell rang again.

'Coming!' He walked down the hallway. The bell rang once again. 'Yes! One second!' He unlocked the door and opened it. His expression changed.

'Good evening officer.'

'Hi, how has your night been?'

'Uh-' He turned around. Stephanie was slowly approaching the door. 'Is something wrong?'

'Did you hear the sirens from the penitentiary?'

Carl turned to his wife and they both shook their heads.

'No.' They said.

'The,' Stephanie began, 'the glass we have is practically sound proof.'

The officer, tall and intimidating, stepped forward.

'A prisoner has escaped and we're going from house to house, just checking you know?'

Carl looked at Stephanie again, then to the officer.

'Well, nothing unusual has happened.'

'No, we would definitely know if there was someone in the yard. I mean,' she looked at Carl, 'you can take a look if that would help you.'

'Well I, may I come in?'

'Oh yes, of course.'

He began to walk in.

'I might just check the hidden places, if that's okay.'

'Go ahead.'

Eliza and Will turned around and their backs straightened as soon as they saw the officer.

'Hi kids. Just taking a look around.'

They both nodded. Eliza moved from the sofa and went to her mother.

'Why is he here?' She whispered.

'He just has to go into the yard.'

'Has something happened?' Will asked as he turned the TV off.

'Nothing has happened don't worry.' She put her arms around her children.

The officer slid the glass door across, then turned around.

'Do you have a garage?'

'No,' Carl said, 'we don't.'

The officer stepped onto the stone tiles and ambled onto the grass. He went to his knees and panned his head around. He then stood up and began to walk across the lawn. His torch was in his hand, ready to turn on and find the escaped prisoner. Like he was on a cloud, he walked to the corner of the yard and turned on the torch. A large oak tree was outside the yard. He flashed it around the tree and shone it into the branches. Nothing.

'He's coming back.' Carl said as he touched his wife's shoulder.

'Sorry again folks, do you mind if I take the pool cover off?

'No, go ahead.'

The officer went back into the yard and stood at the pool. He sat down, reached across and held tightly onto the blue plastic covering. The officer began to pull it out until it was spread out on the lawn. The torch was turned on again, and he began to shine it over the water. The light didn't do much, it was too dark outside to see anything in the water. On his knees, he crawled around the edge of the pool (being careful not to fall in) and tried to spot something. Finally, he stood up and huffed. Another house down, nothing. He went back to the family who were still in the living room packed together like a box of cereal.

'Everything's okay. Thanks for being patient.'

'Oh, thank god. Thank you for coming around.'

'No problem. Uh,' he stopped, 'do you want me to put the pool cover back on?'

'No, it's fine.' They followed him to the front door.

'See ya folks. Have a nice night.'

They waved goodbye.

'Thank you. Bye.'

Once he had turned the corner of their fence, they slammed the door and went back into the living room. Stephanie quickly closed the sliding door and went back to the sofa, as did the rest of the family. 

'So what happened?' Will asked eagerly. 

'Shh,' Carl said, 'we'll tell you tomorrow.'

'Aww come on!'

'Noo!' Stephanie put her arm around Will. 'Don't worry okay?'

Cas's mouth hit the surface of the water and he took in a large breath of air. He continued to breathe with deep breaths, until he finally had the energy to get out of the pool. Like a sea creature, he slapped two of his wet arms onto the grass and lifted the rest of his body up until he could pull himself out. With separate movements so the family couldn't hear him, he managed to get out of the swimming pool. He began to laugh, and then of course he muted his laughing and collapsed to the lawn.

'Come and get me you fuckers.'

For the next 6 hours, Cas sat crouched in that tree waiting for the police searching the neighbourhoods to leave. When the police came across the grass land, it was back into the swimming pool he went. There was only one thing he could do, and that was lay low and get rid of his uniform. Then he could go out and find a car. 

Chapter Text

'MOOOOM!' Castiel's eyes fluttered open. His back was stiff. Then he remembered about how he slept in a tree.

'Mom do you want me to put the cover back on the pool?!?!'

Cas looked down at the lawn. A young boy was by the pool, holding up the covering.

'Yes that would be good thank you!' He began to pull it across the grass to the pool.

Cas realised that is was morning, but without a watch he had no idea what time it was. It was a Monday, so it must have been before nine if the kids from the house were still there.

'Honey! We're leaving now!'

'Yeah I'm coming!' The boy ran back into the house.

Cas kept his eyes at the ground and began to move down the tree. He knew it was going to be difficult. Unfortunately, he slipped and fell to the ground.

'FUCK! Fuckin-' He was on the lawn. There was nowhere to hide. They were still in the house. He could see them standing there in front of their kitchenette. 'Oh shiii..' The pool was covered. The only thing he could do was remain still. He watched as they bickered about their family problems, how Cas longed to have had a privileged life like them when he was a kid. But that wasn't the biggest thing on his mind at the time. One glance at the yard and Cas was dead. Finally, they went down the hallway and left the house. Cas fell back onto the grass.

'Ugh.' He just wanted to go home.

*beep beep beep beep beep*

Dean turned to his bed side table and turned off the clock. 8:00. He had to be at work in an hour and a half.

'Siri,' he held his phone in hand, 'what's the weather for today in Lawrence?'

'Here's the weather for today in Lawrence.'

The T.V was turned on and Dean sat down at the table to watch the news whilst eating his bran flakes. Dean Winchester's house was considerably nice, but mainly, clean. Not a stain was on the carpet, the windows were clear, and the bench top of his kitchen was smooth and pristine. The only imperfection in Dean Winchester's house was the fact that he always left tooth paste on the edge of the basin. Most of his bathroom was white- white tiles, white paint, white sink. He chose that colour scheme so that if there was any dirt he'd see it easily. After having a shower and dressing himself, Dean attended to the bathroom again to complete his morning routine. He stood at the bathroom mirror brushing his teeth, making sure he brushed each tooth twenty times. Then, he flossed them  and rinsed his mouth with Listerine. Next was the creme de la creme. The hair. He combed each hair shaft then rubbed in a small amount of moose with his hands. He shaped it and combed the back of his head, then left the top of his hair near his face wavy and shaped. Finally, it was time to go to work. He grabbed his brief case and went to his Chevy Impala parked in the garage. Dean worked as an accountant for a car company in Lawrence, giving him enough pay to survive, please himself and keep a nice car.

'Turn right.' Dean turned the car GPS off and continued to drive. He drove past the Jacobson family at their car and rolled his window down.

'Good morning Stephanie!'

She turned to Dean, smiling.

'Good morning Dean!' She stepped closer. 'Did the police come around to your house last night?'

'As a matter of fact, they did. He wasn't around your house was he?'

'No, thank god.'

'Well, I have to go. Goodbye Stephanie.'

'Have a nice day Dean.'

As he approached his work, Dean remembered that he forgot to pack something for lunch. The vending machines at the workplace only were filled with Pepsi cans and packets of chips, so he decided to drive to the mall so he could quickly run into the bakery and buy a bagel. The mall had around 50 stores, but Dean only ever went to about three. The parking lot was almost twice the size of the mall itself, but it was bleak, full of beer cans and broken glass.

'Oh Jesus...' Cas stepped across the glossy floorboards until he stood at the carpet covered staircase. Someone was upstairs having a shower. He could have sworn everyone in the house was gone. He began to walk up it, being as quiet as possible and praying that whoever was in the shower wasn't having a short one. He couldn't stay in the uniform, he needed something decent looking to wear. At the top of the staircase was a small area of carpet and three doors. One of them was open, and that was where the shower sound was coming from.

As he entered, he exhaled with relief since it was the wife and husband's room. An antique set of drawers was sitting in front of their queen sized bed, and there was of course another door leading into the bathroom. Cas looked in the first drawer, and he found something even better than clothing. Sitting on top of a few old set of keys and a broken phone was a Smith and Wesson automatic pistol, 9mm even with a box of rounds. Cas opened the next drawer and grabbed a plain blue t shirt. He stripped, threw on the shirt and looked in the next drawer. A pair of black pants with a belt, which were adequate, then he took the watch and sunglasses on top of the set of drawers and stuffed them into his pocket. It was after this when the shower stopped. He ran down the staircase. The gun. He forgot the gun. He quickly went back upstairs, went into the room to the drawers and took the weapon and rounds from inside it. The bathroom door opened. Out came a tall, dark haired man dressed in a bath room. Cas held the gun up.

'Stop! Don't fucking move!'

The man held his hands up.

'Don't... fucking... move...'

Cas began to walk backwards. When he reached the doorway he turned around and ran down the stairs.

Dean began to hear the police sirens again as he exited the mall. He could see the lights in the distance moving around the corner. He assumed it was to find the escaped prisoner, but it could have been anything. Apart from a few cars, the parking lot was pretty much empty. It was a Monday.

'Don't say a fucking word.'

Dean felt something hard in his back. As soon as the sentence finished, he felt dizzy. Dean's legs weakened and he collapsed to the ground.

'Oh, shit!' Cas stood at Dean, waiting. Dean's eyes opened and he quickly stood up.

'Please, sir, I-'

'Get in the fucking car!' Cas showed the gun.

'Okay, okay. Okay.' Dean, with his hands raised, unlocked the car and went into the driver's seat. Cas sat in the front passenger's seat next to Dean with the gun still at him.

'Do you have a job?'

'Y- yes.'

'Give me your phone.'

Dean took his phone out.

'Okay, I'm going to call them for you and give YOU the phone. Then you're going to take some sick leave okay? And make it seem real.'

Cas was handed the phone.

'What's their number?'

'W- where I work?'

'Yes.'

Cas dialed the number as Dean said the digits to him. It rang three times, then a man picked up the phone.

'Lawrence Autos, Warren speaking.'

Cas gave the phone to Dean.

'Hi Warren. It's Dean.'

Cas raised the gun at him again.

'Listen can I speak to John?... thanks.'

Dean glanced at Cas.

'Listen John, sorry-' Dean began to violently cough. 'I.. I'm really sick. I have terrible food poisoning I just can't make it for a while.... okay.... thanks John.' Dean ended the call and gave the phone back to Cas. He opened the door and threw it onto the ground. It smashed instantly. He then stomped on it, took the sim card out and snapped it. Innocent Dean was still in his seat, trying not to cry. Cas picked up the large parts of the phone and threw them back into the car.

'Just, take me to Illinois.'

'Illinois!?'

'Take me there okay?'

'Jesus... please, please sir, I won't report you.'

'Drive!'

'Yes! Yes! I'm sorry.' Dean turned on the GPS and started the engine.

'What the fuck is that?'

'It's, it's,'

'What!?!'

'It's a GPS.'

'Fuck, you could've just said it. GPS. Like that.'

Dean's hands were shaking. He reversed out of the parking lot and drove onto the road. Dean opened his mouth.

'Are you-'

'Yes, I'm the one who escaped.'

Dean nodded. Cas slowly put the gun onto the floor at his feet. Dean began to cry. He sniffed, and drops hit his chin. Cas turned to him and noticed the crying.

'Listen, I'm not-'

Dean said nothing. Cas exhaled.

'I'm sorry I was harsh with you.'

Still, no words from Dean.

'Did you fucking hear me?'

'You're the one with the gun.'

Cas looked down at the pistol. He turned to Dean.

'I'm Castiel. Cas.'

'I'm uh, Dean.'

'Full name please?'

Dean looked at him. Cas laughed.

'I'm kidding...'

Dean was still tense at the wheel. The man can't take a joke, Cas was thinking.

'...Sorry.'

Chapter Text

15 minutes had passed. Dean's hands were still tight on the steering wheel, and not a word had passed his lips since Cas apologised for his joke. Castiel began to tap his fingers on his knee.

'You got a cigarette?'

Dean shook his head.

'Christ, all the people and you're the one who don't smoke.'

'I'm sorry.'

'Yeah, yeah.'

'Uh, Castiel?'

'Yeah what?' Castiel put his arm over the car seat, spread out his legs, then smirked. Cas was playing with Dean. He was the lion and Dean was the gazelle.

'How did you do it?' Dean turned his head to Cas, then back to the road.

'You mean how did I escape?'

Dean nodded. Cas rubbed his hands together and laughed.

'You are in for a tale Dean, uh, Dean-?'

'Dean Winchester.'

'Deeean Winchester. About two months ago, a good friend of mine and I began to develop the ideas for this break out. All we needed was a uniform.'

'A uniform?'

'You see, Gabriel had connections. That was his name, Gabriel. He knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy. Gabriel were sent in these packages. Inside were-'

The car began to cough.

'Oh no.' Dean pulled the car over to the side of the road.

'What? Why are you stopping, what is it?'

'The car needs water, it's overheated.'

'Water? Water!?! Is it a fucking dog? So what do we have to do? Get water? Put it back in?'

'No! It needs to be serviced.'

'Serviced? We don't have fucking time for it to be serviced. Just so you know Dean, people are looking for me.'

'There's a repair place about two miles away. See the houses?'

Cas looked where Dean was pointing. He could see a line of houses, each with cute little tiled roofs.

'Oh.' Cas frowned at Dean. 'Well, you call the repair place and have them come get the car.'

Dean opened his mouth, then closed it.

'What?!?'

'Well, you broke it.'

Cas chuckled.

'Yeah that's right. Ha. Sorry.'

Dean sighed.

'Okay, you just stay here. I'll go to the repairer.'

'Nope. I'm not letting you go by yourself.' Cas grabbed Dean's arm.

'You want me to leave it here on the side of the road?'

'Nothin's gonna happen! We'll be 10 minutes tops!'

'Castiel I don't want to leave my car here!'

'Fine. We'll just sit here then.' Cas smiled.

The sun was shining on their backs like a watchful guardian. Dean's legs were growing tired, but he didn't have the choice to stop or not. Cas however, was lagging behind.

'Hey, Dean.' He caught up to him. 'I'll be in there with you, so don't forget what I have with me.' Cas slightly lifted his shirt and showed the gun in his belt. Dean said nothing. As he looked at Cas's face he could see himself in the black sunglasses he was wearing.

'Don't you ever talk?'

Dean stopped and turned to Castiel. He screwed up his face and messed up his sweaty hair.

'What are you fucking saying!? You held a gun to me. There was a chance that you were going to kill me. I'm fucking scared right now and you're treating me like I'm a friend or something! I'd prefer if you would just stop talking to me. I'd prefer if you just let me take you to Illinois or whatever so I can go home. I want to go home.' Dean's arms were shaking. Cas felt something heavy like a rock in his stomach. He swallowed and looked down at the black tar road. Without saying anything else, he continued to walk up the road. Dean huffed and followed.

He was standing at the front desk when the two young men came into the garage. One of them, the dark haired one with sunglasses, looked rather stiff. The other one looked quite wealthy- his suit was well tailored and you could tell from a mile away that it was expensive.

'Good morning.' He said to them. The green eyed one stepped forward.

'Hi, a little while back on the road my car has overheated. Is there um, a way you can go...'

'Tow it in? Yeah, sure. Truck's in the back. What type of car?'

'It's a Chevy Impala. I'm sure you'll be able to pick it out from the crowd.'

He chuckled then left the desk and went around the pile of tyres.

'You two just wait here and I'll go get it.'

Dean smiled.

'Thank you.'

Cas and Dean sat on a wooden bench outside the repair shop. Cas was humming loudly to annoy Dean, and Dean was not showing he was annoyed so he could annoy Cas.

'6 hours.' Dean murmured.

'Huh?'

'6 hours with you. That's all, right?'

'Well, I dunno. I think we need something to eat don't you?'

'Yes. I think we do.'

Around the corner came the faded red truck with Dean's baby on the end. As soon as he saw her, he stood up and sighed with relief.

'I told you it'd be fine.' Cas muttered. Dean walked over to him with a thankful smile on his face. The car engineer let the car down carefully and turned to Dean.

'Should be ready in a day.'

'A day?' Dean had assumed they were the only ones in the area with a car that needed fixing.

'I have other cars.'

'Right, uh, what time exactly?'

'Just come around here at 11.'

'Great. I'll see you then.'

'You too. Did you fill out that form?'

'Yeah, all done. It's on the desk.'

'Okey dokey then.'

'A day!?!'

'Yes, a day.' They began to walk up the street.

'What are gonna do for a day?'

'Well, we can go to a diner and eat something, then we'll go to the motel okay?'

Cas nodded.

'And you're paying for all this?'

Cas gave Dean an annoying looking grin.

'Yes. I'm paying for all of this. Unfortunately.'

Dean looked up. A small diner was on the corner, waiting patiently for Cas and Dean to enter. It was only 10:00, but the large 'Diner' sign was already turned on.

'Here.' Dean said as he tapped Cas's shoulder. 'Up this way.'

As they entered the diner, they were surprised to be the only ones there apart from the workers. They went to a booth by the window and looked around at their surroundings. The walls were covered with cheap paintings and old news paper articles. The counter was three metres long with green cushioned stools. The booths had brown leather seats and in the centre was a rectangular table with a set of coffee cups.

'Have you ever been here before?' Cas asked.

'No, I haven't.'

Cas opened up one of the menus on the table and quickly examined it whilst Dean watched the few amount of cars drive past. A waitress came to their booth with a pot of coffee.

'Coffee?' She asked. Dean smiled.

'Yes thank you.'

He slid his cup over and the dark brown liquid was poured in. Cas then showed her his cup and she poured some into it as well.

'Ready to order?' She then asked.

Cas and Dean both spoke at the same time.

'A bacon cheeseburger.'

They then looked at each other.

'Two bacon cheeseburgers.... anything else?'

They both shook their heads as they stared, then the waitress left.

'Dean?'

'Yes?' He picked up his cup and took a sip.

'What do you do? Do you have a job?'

Dean shrugged then nodded.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Cas asked with a smirk.

'What?'

Imitating Dean, Cas shrugged then nodded.

'I work as an accountant for a business.' Dean said with a proud tone.

'Ahhh. Interesting.'

'Yeah, it is. So what did you do?'

'I worked at a convenience store for a little while. Then of course, money problems arose. Shit happens.'

Dean frowned.

'Shit happens? What? What made you kill someone?'

'Kill someone? How do you know I killed someone?'

'Why else would the police care so much?'

'True.' Cas smiled.

Dean leaned his head against the window.

'One full day,' He said. 'stuck with a gun to my back.'

'And if you're lucky I'll let you use the bathroom.'

Dean laughed.

'Ahhh. A laugh.' Cas turned his head to the kitchen. 'They're probably making our burgers right now.

'You think?'

'Yeah. And they're thinking, why the hell are these two guys wanting bacon cheeseburgers at 10 in the morning?'

Dean stared out the window again.

'You- you don't have to do this Cas.' He said sincerely.

'What?'

'You can take the car. Just please don't make me-'

'Dean. Shut up.' Cas shook his head. 'I don't know what's in your head.'

'You can trust me Cas I won't-'

'But I don't know that. I don't know that.' He drank from his cup and put it down. 'I'm sticking with you Dean. You're not leaving me now.'

Dean rubbed his eyes. Trust. Cas didn't trust him. Lack of trust was keeping him from freedom.