Your Dark Promise

Chapter 28

Dean's p.o.v

Dean stopped what he was doing and just stood there and stared at the tablet in Cas' hands. He tapped at his fingers for just a moment as Cas looked at him before returning to drying himself. Once he was done, he pulled on a pair of sweats and a shirt walking out of the bathroom Cas following right behind him.

Dean sat on the bed, back against the headboard as Cas sat beside him, placing the tablet in front of him and looking him over. Dean just kept staring at the thing. "What if it's none of them? What if it was just one of their guys?" He asked quietly.

"Then when we finally go in to take them down, we will make them tell us, one way or another." Cas answered simply.

Dean's fingers tapped some more, a few minutes of silence passing between them. Finally, he picked the tablet up and pressed the unlock button to it. On the homescreen was just one app icon labeled 'audio files'. Dean clicked this, and when this opened, there were pictures of each man and a short clip attached to each one. Dean kept staring at the thing.

"You don't have to do this now. We have a lot of time until we're even ready to approach them. You can do it once we're closer to that." Cas said, wanting to touch Dean and comfort him but holding back.

Dean shook his head, "I need to know. I've always needed to know." His fingers hovering over the first file of Monroe. Finally, he clicked the picture and then clicked play to the audio file.

Dean sat and listened to the whole thing, a one-sided conversation of Monroe on the phone with whom Cas assumed was one of his sons. When it ended, Cas looked to Dean, "Anything?"

Dean shook his head. "No, it wasn't him." Dean clicked on the next photo, this one Eli, he was talking to a supplier, making sure the product got moved. The two minute conversation is a simple transaction. Dean shook his head again as his good hand started to shake.

Cas grabbed at the hand, "You can take a break, come back to it."

Dean shook his head again as he clicked on Roscoe's picture, a similar conversation as the one before, with Eli playing out for a few minutes. When it ended, Dean took a deep breath but shook his head again.

Cas looked at the remaining names, Eldon, Jacob, and Cyrus. He knew it wouldn't have been Cyrus. He would have still been in high school then, and the softer boy of the family would have never participated in something like that. Dean had already heard Jacob speak, but the interaction was so short that they got a clip of him just to be sure. Cas felt a knot in his stomach grow as he realized it had to be Eldon if it was going to be any of them.

Dean played Cyrus' file but quickly stopped it as he heard how young his voice sounded. Now faced with the two remaining photos, Dean's finger hovered over Eldons photo. He had come to the same conclusion now that Cas had. With his finger shaking, he clicked on the photo and closed his eyes as the voice  played through the tablet. He listened to the whole three minute conversation between him and one of his brothers. When he laughed, Dean sucked in a shaky breath. When the file played through Dean set down the tablet and nodded, "It was him." He said in a low whisper, staring at the photo of Eldon.

They sat in silence for a while, Cas not knowing how to act right now or what to do. Eventually, he set his hand on Dean's knee, looking him over. Dean looked to Cas at this, "No matter what, you swear to me that when the time comes, I'm the one who takes him down."

Cas gave him a nod as Dean kept staring at the picture. Finally Dean stood, walking for the door, "Where are you going?" Cas asked as if he even had a lot of options on where to go.

"I'm going to cook." Dean answered simply.

"You can't- wait, what?" Cas shot back confused.

"I need to do something with my hands before I either hurt myself or someone else." He held up his injured hand in its cast, "And with this, it would probably be myself. So I'm going to cook." He turned for the door and left, Cas sitting there in a stunned silence.