Five Seconds Later

Chapter Seventeen: The Found

"I love you, Dean."

"Dean?"

"Go away, Cas."

"Dean-"

"Please just go."

*** 

Drives with Dean were often silent, especially as of late. With Sam, it was different. Even in their sadness, the two managed to hold a decent conversation for most of the ride.

"It was an accident that we found Claire and Alex." Sam steadied the wheel of the truck, his eyes focused on the road ahead. "We stumbled on them in the outskirts of the city was we were leaving with the supplies. They had been heading toward the bunker on their own – apparently, Jody was among one of the first to turn and they figured we would be the best people to help them."

"We haven't been able to help anyone lately." Cas sighed, staring out his window absentmindedly. "First Kevin, then Meg, then Ellen, then Ron, then Jo, now Charlie? Dean doesn't even love me anymore. He won't let me anywhere near him."

It took him a minute to register what he had said as Sam sat there with a stunned look on his face.

"What did you just say?" 

"I said... um... erm... you know... I said... like a brother... um..." Cas coughed, his face turning read. "He doesn't love me like a brother anymore."

"I know what you meant, Cas." Sam was too upset from the earlier events to crack a smile, but he managed to be amused. "You guys aren't very good at hiding your long, leisurely excursions to the rooftop or random choruses of 'Stand By Me.'"

"Oh."

"It's not a bad thing." Sam tightened his grip on the steering wheel as a walker ambled by the edge of the road. "Really. I'm happy for you guys. But don't think Dean has stopped loving you. He's just going through it right now."

"I said it to him the other day." Cas' eyes filled with tears and he wiped them away with the sleeve of his trenchcoat before Sam could see. "I told him that I loved him and he didn't say anything back."

"Like I said, Cas – he's going through it. He still loves you." Sam frowned, swerving the truck around the walker, which had tried to dive in front of them. "Just ask him."

"I can't." Cas rested his chin on his hand as he kept staring out the window, watching as the colorful autumnal hues of the trees nearby blurred into one. "He won't talk to me."

"Just give him time." Sam reached out, blindly patting Cas' shoulder in a sign of solidarity. "He'll come around. He always does."

***

They got to the store without anything eventful happening. Sam told Cas to be on the lookout for walkers that might not have been cleared, and for bottles of water. They were already running low and Bobby was worried the water supply might eventually expire itself.

Cas headed off alone, but not toward the water or groans of distant walkers. He headed toward the fridges first, which had been mostly cleared out, but there were two six packs of beer still sitting there. He put them both in his little basket and began scouting out the pie isle.

"Hey, you!"

Cas nearly knocked over a small stack of magazines and rolled his basket into a bunch of dented cans as a voice behind him sounded. He threw his hands up in the air, his trenchcoat sagging loosely around his arms, and turned around.

"Leave the basket and walk out that door." A short woman who couldn't be more than half of Sam's height was aiming her pistol right between Cas' eyes. "Now, and no one gets hurt."

"Hey, okay!!" Cas stepped carefully to his left, keeping his hands in the air. "Please take your gun off of me! I will not hurt you, I promise. My name is-"

"I don't give a shit what your name is." The woman cocked her rifle and gave him a nasty glare. "Get out, now. This is my store."

Cas took one look at the meager selection in his basket – the two sets of beers and three articifical pies – and glanced back at the woman.

"Can I please leave with what I have in my cart?" He pleaded, trying to raise his voice loud enough for Sam to hear. "I have money."

"I said get out. You do NOT want to hear me say it again." The woman didn't budge. Cas was about to grab the basket and make a run for it, likely without success, when someone else rounded the corner. He didn't recognize her right away – it was dark inside of the store, and the shadows cast by fallen shelves were enough to plunge anyone into darkness.

"Leave him alone, Anaise. He's a friend."

The woman rolled her eyes and pocketed her gun, glaring at Cas.

"Is it really you?" Cas tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, stepping a little closer to get a better look at the person in the shadows. It was in this moment that Sam rounded the corner, having heard Cas talking, and his eyes widened in shock.

"Sure is," she smiled, winking at Sam. "What's up, bitches?"