The Runt of the Litter

Any Friend of Dean's

Note: Thank you thank you thank you for all the reads, votes, and comments. It always makes my day to receive even one vote or comment on a chapter of this fic. Also, please remember that if anybody wants to drop a request any time, feel free. I am more than happy to write them.

So, I'm aware that I've only written Cas into this like two times, but it's not because I don't love him. I just do not want to write him wrong. I decided to write out a little something about when they first met him, back when he was kind of a dick and Dean was all disbelieving and Sam was sneaking around with Ruby. You know, the intensity of season four (which means SPOILERS) but this little fic diverges from the way Dean found out about Sam and Ruby on the show while not tying directly to any particular episodes. This was a means of exploring Cas and Anna's friendship as it would have started back then, when she was a little kid and he had Heaven to worry about. 

In this chapter, Anna is nine.

Any Friend of Dean's

"So, how come you know my brother?"

Castiel turned narrowed blue eyes on the little girl sitting on the bench beside him. "We... work together," he said, curious as to why Dean Winchester's sister didn't know of his role as Heaven's servant.

"You're a hunter," Anna deduced, but she looked skeptical. "You don't act like most hunters." She looked up at him. "Plus Dean don't really leave me with other hunters much. He says most of 'em don't know how to talk to kids. I don't think that's right, though. You think that's right?"

Castiel looked back up at the building across the street that Dean had disappeared into nearly ten minutes ago. "The subject is not of interest to me."

Anna's mouth formed a little 'o' shape, but she didn't verbally react. She just looked down at her feet, stuffed inside a pair of Converse sneakers and swinging back and forth. She watched the laces bounce and tried to think of a way to fill the silence. She didn't like to talk to people, but she didn't like to be silent around them either. It was really best to keep conversation going, as exhausting as that could be.

"What do you like to talk about?" she asked finally, trying to remember her manners. Sam taught her that it was important to ask questions about the other person if they didn't seem to like what you were talking about. People usually find it easy to talk about themselves, at least on a surface level, he'd said. Anna wasn't quite sure what he meant by on a surface level, but she found the basic idea pretty easy to latch onto. "Hunting? Sammy and Dean like to talk about hunting."

"You would do well not to compare me to your human family."

Anna frowned, upper lip curling in confusion as she stared up at him in bewilderment. "Um... Casi-Cas-Castiel?" He didn't correct her, so she assumed she'd gotten it right. "Castiel, do you mean you aren't a person?"

"Not in the sense that you tend to understand people."

"What are you then?"

"If Dean has not informed you of that, I presume there is a reason. Of course, he will have to tell you eventually. But if he has chosen to delay that moment, I am not yet in a place to tell him otherwise."

Anna continued to stare up at Castiel in confusion. "Um, okay," she said. "I think I'm gonna be quiet now, okay?" she asked hesitantly, feeling more timid than ever.

Castiel looked at her. "It does not make a difference to me," he said simply, seemingly completely unaware of the child's discomfort.

Anna pursed her lips and stared at her shoes, making a concerted effort not to look in Castiel's direction. She wished Dean would come back and take her back to the motel so she could just be alone, or maybe with Sam if he was back already, while Dean went out and worked with Castiel. Usually her brothers' hunting friends at least made an effort to make Anna feel comfortable around them. Castiel seemed like kind of a jerk.