Astronaut3 : Shake it off (the mark of Cain)

Sam nodded. "I will start right now." He stood up, closing his book. Hanakael offered his help, so they both left a few seconds later, looking for paint, blood, and the proper markings.
Castiel remained silent for a while. "Do you think something might be off?" He turnee to Dean, looking confused.

Dean watched as Sam and Hanakael left to look for the things they needed to ward the bunker, silently wondering what was even happening. Hell, everything had unraveled pretty fast. He turned to Castiel. "I don't know", he admitted. "I think he looks pretty beaten. Maybe he confronted Crowley and they... fought?" He shrugged. "Maybe you should talk to him, later", he offered then.

Castiel nodded. "I fear we angels have a sad habit of falling in love with our soulmates a bit too fast," he sighed. Then kissed Dean on the cheek. "I'll go find him a room in the meantime, where he'll be allowed some time alone."

Dean grumbled a protest, accepting Castiel's kiss ("Well I am far from being husband material, and I have been a real asshole, but at least I have one redeeming quality or two - and I am not Crowley!"). "Alright", he added then, stealing a kiss on the angel's lips. "I'll be helping Sam and Hanakael with the warding then."

Castiel nodded, but smiled back at Dean. "You are more than husband material to me, Dean," he whispered to his ear, before he walked away, to where the bedrooms were. Kind of teasing him.

Dean blinked, staring a bit dumbfounded as Castiel walked off to the wing where the bedrooms were. "What do you mean, 'more than husband material'?", he asked out loudly, incapable of holding himself off. "You better tell me later!" He walked off to reach Sam and Hanakael to offer his help. Still having the tell-tale redness of that last comment all over his face.

Sam noticed that redness on his cheeks, but didn't comment on it. At least, not in front of the other angel. The warding took them a bit of time, and then Castiel talked to Hanakael for a while, before he showed up again in the main room.

Dean, after helping out with the warding, had decided to prepare dinner - refusing stubbornly to only serve salad to Sam. He prepared just a little bit of it on purpose, on the side of a good old hamburger. He was serving the dishes when he looked up, hearing Castiel entering the room. "Hey", he greeted him. "Everything ok?"

Castiel made a face, then shook his head. "Not so much," he sighed, as he sat down at the table. "He will need that ritual to overcome his betrayal, I suppose."

Dean frowned, sitting down at his side. "Betrayal?", he asked thoughtfully, mindlessly reaching for one of the beer bottles. He opened it up, nudging it over to Castiel. "What do you mean?"

Castiel remained thoughtful for a few more seconds. "He might have been too naïve. He did believe there could be something between him and Crowley, and held strongly to that belief. Until he was proved wrong."

Dean scoffed, opening up a beer for himself too. "I'm sorry to say this, but he was too naïve. Demons are not exactly known to be able to... well, bond. Especially Crowley. He is the King of Hell, he was the King of the Crossroads, and that should say a lot on what kind of douchebag he is." He took a sip of his drink. "That doesn't mean I am not sorry for the guy. It must feel awful."

Castiel nodded absent-mindedly, sipping his own beer.
"... What if it would have been the other way around, though?" Sam suddenly asked, after he had swallowed down a great mouthful of burger. "I mean. Granted, he was probably using his own soulmate. But I almost cured Crowley with my own blood. What if grace could actually make him... sort of human again too?"

Dean turned to Sam, raising a brow. He didn't look too convinced. "I don't think that was what Crowley had in mind, though. I mean, we have no idea what could happen, true, and we cannot exclude that possibility, but... well, look at what happened to me. I had part of Cas's grace in me, but that didn't really help when I became..." He didn't go on. He abruptly silenced himself with a mouthful of his burger.

"...Speaking of which. We should get back to finding you a cure," Sam replied, clearing his throat.
Castiel laid his hand on Dean's arm. "I need my grace to recover. But after that, I'll try to give you more of my grace, to see if it can help."

Dean took a long sip of beer to help himself swallow the mouthful of food - it might have been a tiny bit too much even for him. "We will. When this whole crazy demon-angel soulmate thing will be solved", he told Sam. He turned to Castiel then. "Without exaggerating", he said, pointing a finger to him. "I don't want you to give it all away. Get better first." That totally sounded like an order.

Castiel nodded, and laid a hand on Dean's arm. "Don't worry. It might take time, but we'll find a way to get you rid of it."

Dean patted his hand. "One way or another, we always find a way around things. That's why so many people want us dead", he joked, getting to eat again. "Don't make the burgers go cold. I burnt myself cooking those sons of bitches!"

"They're excellent, by the way," Sam replied, lifting his thumb. He had already eaten half of his, without forgetting about his nice salad, of course.
Castiel nodded and ate too, appreciating the meal in silence. He was still a bit concerned when thinking about the mark of Cain, though. He had lost Dean once because of it, what if it were to happen again?

"Did you have any doubts?" Dean quipped, visibly proud of himself as he cleaned off his dish in a matter of minutes. "I can cook few things, but those few things always come up great." Well, except for those awful tacos-pie-spaghetti he had tried to make that one time. ... he was drunk. The Tacospieghetti accident and what happened afterwards still haunted his nightmares. He turned to Castiel, a bright (adorable) smile on his face. "You like it?"

Castiel smiled back, and swallowed down his mouthful, nodding slightly. "It's good, yes. I do wish to learn to prepare tese the way you like them."

"I will teach you!", Dean immediately replied, enthusiastically. "The secret is in the spices. You have to mix them just right - and not go too heavy on spicy pepper." He talked for a bit, cracking up some joke here and there.
He did not want to think about the Mark, right now. He just wanted to enjoy the moment for once, and try to feel happy with his family around him.

In the end, neither Sam nor Cas dared to mention the mark of Cain again. It brought back too many bad memories, and they didn't need those right now.
"Alright, somebody's got to take care of the dishes," Sam sighed, as he stood up, gathering the plates. "Thanks for the meal, Dean."

"Hey, no problem. Someone has to keep you from transforming into a werebunny. I've read that feeding you meat helps with countering that", Dean answered, flashing him a smile.

Sam snorted, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, sure. Well pardon me for not having enough grace in me to automatically heal my cholesterol," he said, as he went back to the kitchen.