Chapter Text
It didn't take Bao long to cut to the heart of Dean's arrangement with Crowley, how he'd gotten involved with Ruby, the whole sordid business with Meg, and what it meant that the meeting originally scheduled for Friday had been pushed to that afternoon. Cas was reduced to the role of bystander, unable to offer anything more than silent support as Dean was subjected to Bao's quick questions, until the Special Agent sat back, hands folded in her lap, and quirked her lips thoughtfully.
'Well, Mr Winchester. This is a pretty mess, isn't it?'
'That's one way of looking at it,' Dean said. His tone was calm, but Cas could tell how tired he was, and when he quietly slipped an arm around Dean's waist, his lover leaned against him.
'For instance,' Bao went on, 'I'd be well within my rights to arrest you for conspiracy, aiding and abetting – hell, I could probably work obstruction of justice in there, too. But on the other hand –' and here she glanced at Cas, '– I'll admit to feeling somewhat responsible for Mr Novak's... episode, and that makes me inclined towards leniency; provided, of course, you assist the FBI in bringing Ruby Blue to justice. By your own account, the criminal activities of Messers Crowley and Brimmond clearly cross state lines, which makes this a federal matter, and with everything that's going on in Nevada, the department – and my bosses – could use a win.'
Dean's smile was bitter as black coffee. 'Of course they could.'
'Here's what I propose,' said Bao. 'You go in, just as Crowley wants, but with FBI backup. You tip us off when everyone is present; we come in and round up the herd. Your testimony directly incriminates Ruby, Meg and Crowley; we cut Crowley a deal to ensure the safety of your friend, Anna –' Cas raised his eyebrows at that; Dean merely snorted, while Bao ignored them both, '– and the rest takes care of itself.'
'And Ruby's assassin?' Cas asked, sharply. 'How do they figure in the mix?'
'The way I see it,' Bao said, 'she's doing this all as a display piece. It's theatre: she wants everyone to see Crowley proven incompetent, and she can't do that without an audience. The audience arrives, Dean calls for us, and backup arrives before the assassin. Simple.'
Dean just stared at her. 'Simple. Really. How dumb do you think I am?'
'It's not a question of intelligence, Mr Winchester; it's a question of options – specifically, the fact that you have none. According to you, the meet is meant to happen at 4pm, which gives me less than six hours to pull this together. Now, if I were working out of my home office, that would be one thing, but out here in Monument, I'm an interloper, and with all the politicking over Nevada and Lassiter's suspension, I'm already treading on toes.'
Dean tensed. 'Lassiter's suspended?'
'As of yesterday, yes, pending an internal investigation.' Bao hesitated. 'Mr Novak informed me of Daniel's... of your personal history with Special Agent Lassiter, and while you yourself would need to make an official complaint or press formal charges against him in order to seek redress on that count, he has previously been the subject of other such, ah, accusations.'
Cas curled his fingers protectively around Dean's hip. 'What sort of accusations?'
Bao looked uncomfortable. 'Nothing was ever proven,' she said, 'or he wouldn't still be with us. But from what I can gather, he was warned, sternly, to be scrupulous in the future.'
'Meaning?' Dean snarled. He was shivering; Cas pulled him closer.
'Meaning,' Bao said, bluntly, 'that someone high up protected him once, but will happily see him burned this time to save their own reputation. At this point, he's more or less being pressured to jump before he's pushed.'
Cas glared at her. 'Oh, right. Because haven forbid the FBI be scandalised by an actual, concrete record of what he did. Just launder the dirt in-house, and no one needs to know, is that it?'
Bao stared him down. 'You'd rather put your lover through the stress of making a formal complaint?'
Dean lifted his chin. 'If it keeps him from hurting anyone else, I'd do it in a heartbeat,' he said. And maybe Bao believed him; he said it firmly enough, and she didn't press the issue. But Cas was close enough to feel Dean shudder, sweating at the prospect, and in that moment, he hated Lassiter as he'd never hated anyone who wasn't Brother Tiberius.
'Regardless,' said Bao, after a moment, 'the point being, I don't have that many resources at my disposal for something like this, and we're working within a perilously narrow timeframe. Backup-wise, I can manage maybe four agents; ordinarily, I'd draft in the local police as well, but if Ruby's as well-connected as she seems to be, then I'm not about to risk tipping her off through the bought-and-bent grapevine. But believe me when I say I want to help. I want these bastards caught, and I certainly want to see your friend recovered, safe and sound.'
'Yeah,' said Dean, sarcastically. 'I'm sure you do.'
Bao raised an eyebrow. 'Do I look white to you? Or male, for that matter? Believe it or not, Mr Winchester, but as much as I love law enforcement, I'm well aware of its failings around issues of race and gender. I will not –' and here her voice turned hard, '– let Anna be seen as expendable. That's a promise.'
Dean looked genuinely abashed. 'Fair enough,' he mumbled. And then, more firmly, 'Even so, this isn't exactly a cake walk. I don't have a lot of details on what to expect, you know? The place could be swarming with muscle, and if so, then four of your agents ain't exactly going to cut it.'
'I can see that,' said Bao. 'And yet, I say again: take it or leave it.'
You don't have to do this, Cas wanted to say. But they'd already had that conversation, and even if he'd wanted to have it again, Bao's offer was still as close to a best option as they had. So instead, he kissed Dean's cheek, and stroked his side – being careful, this time, to miss his bandages – and murmured, 'Whatever you decide, I'm with you.'
Dean didn't hesitate. 'I'll do it,' he said.
*
When Crowley hung up the phone, he kept the gun to Anna's head, and without even having to ask, she knew this one didn't shoot tranquillisers.
'Now then,' he said. 'I'm a reasonable man. You're feeling betrayed. I understand that. But it doesn't change why you're here, or what will happen if you suddenly decide to try and leave. If I put this gun away, are you going to behave? Or do we have to negotiate a new, more restrictive agreement?'
'I'll behave,' said Anna, hating him.
'Good,' said Crowley, satisfied. 'Now, if you'll excuse me, I have things to do, places to be, people to kill. Just you stay here and watch some TV. My men are right outside. Relax.' He grinned at her. 'One way or another, this will all be over soon.'
Anna shuddered, and picked up the remote.
*
It took Special Agent Bao three phone calls and ninety minutes to arrange Dean's backup, during which time lunch arrived, another nurse came to check on them, and Cas underwent his psych evaluation. He passed it easily enough, but under advice from Bao, he agreed to stay a further day in hospital 'for observation', which here translated to 'for his own safety'.
'I'll have someone keep an eye on you, just in case,' Bao said.
Cas ignored her, and went to get cleaned up: he was sick of the hospital gown, and he stank of old sweat. He took his time in the shower, wishing absurdly that Dean would just walk in and join him, heedless of Bao's stern presence in the next room. It was a hypnotic possibility: the door would open, Dean would enter – uninjured and bandage-free, in this fantasy version – and Cas would kiss every inch of him, teasing with fingers and tongue, until neither of them could take it any more. He groaned quietly, but didn't bring himself off: as vivid as his imagination was, it wasn't a patch on the real thing. He could be patient.
When he returned, washed and dressed and once more in control of himself, it was to find that a new FBI representative, one Agent Cross, had arrived at Bao's request to get Dean ready, which in practical terms meant giving him his FBI-approved gear, making sure he knew how to use it, and otherwise talking him through the plan as they saw it. And all at once, it was horribly real: Dean was going, and Cas couldn't stop him, and they had no privacy, no space, in which to talk it through. Not that there was anything to say they hadn't already said, but with Cross skulking in the doorway and Bao ensconced in the good chair, Cas couldn't help feeling resentful.
And so, instead, he held his lover, kissed him deeply, and hoped his touch conveyed what words could not: I love you, I need you, come back to me.
When they parted, Dean's voice was husky. 'I'll be fine, Cas. I promise.'
'You'd better be,' Cas whispered.
Impassively, Cross led Dean out, and as the door clicked shut behind them, Cas was left with Bao, an unruffled sentinel he had no reason, but a desperate need, to trust.
'We'll be with him the whole time,' Bao said, into the silence. 'He'll have backup. He'll be –'
'Don't,' said Cas. 'Just, don't.' He sat down in the other chair, and looked her in the eye. 'If you fail him out there, believe me when I say I'll make you regret it.'
Bao smiled thinly. 'I'd like to see you try.'
Cas laughed, startling her. 'And isn't that just villainously typical, that your first thought is physical pain? What, you think I'd start throwing punches? I'm not even sure you'd bleed if I cut you.' He was viciously satisfied by her flinch. 'Let me be clear, then: if this goes badly for Dean – and I'll be the one to judge if it does, not you – then I'll go to the press and tell them exactly what you told me yesterday, about departmental infighting and miscommunication between the FBI and the ATF resulting in the Fellowship siege. I will tell them about Lassiter's abuses, past and present, about how your joint interrogation left me so traumatised, I went home and overdosed, and I will do it with a song in my heart, Agent Bao, because what neither you nor Crowley seem to understand is that people don't exist for you to use them .'
Bao stiffened. 'If you did that,' she said, voice hard and clipped, 'I'd have to arrest you.'
'If my lover dies,' said Cas, his smile sharp enough to hurt, 'I wouldn't care. But then, that's the problem with trying to leverage damaged, lonely people, isn't it? We don't have much to threaten, and what we want isn't in your power to give. It's why Crowley took Anna, after all.'
'Castiel –'
'Oh, go on.' Cas felt almost feral, now. 'Tell me I've got a family to think about. Tell me why I should prioritise the needs of virtual strangers over the welfare of my lover. Just try it.'
Bao seemed to weigh her words carefully. 'You're awfully loyal to Dean, considering how briefly you've known him. He's been in Monument for, what, all of three months? And as best we can tell, the two of you have only formalised your relationship in the past week or so. Yet you sound almost ready to die for him. Do you really think he feels the same? Do you really think, if push comes to shove, and you hit the big red media button, he's going to welcome the consequences?'
For a moment, Cas was too furious to speak, which Bao seemed to think meant she'd won a point; the corner of her mouth went up, and she inhaled, ready to speak again. Cas, however, got in first.
'Agent Bao, has anyone ever saved your life?'
The question caught her off guard. 'What?'
'You work for the FBI. You've spent time in the field. Has anyone ever saved your life?'
She opened her mouth – to say no, Cas thought, the reflex automatic rather than honest – then stopped, a strange look creeping into her eyes. 'Yes,' she said, slowly. 'Yes, they have.'
'Did it cost them?'
'Cost them?'
'Did they save you at a cost to themselves? Were they hurt? Did they disobey orders? Did they materially disadvantage themselves for your benefit?'
For a moment, he thought she wouldn't answer. Then, quietly, in a different tone that Cas suspected was her everyday voice, and not her official one, Bao said, 'Four years into the job, a colleague and I were pinned down in a firefight. I'd been shot, and we needed to move, but I couldn't walk. We'd only been working together a few weeks, didn't really get along – she should have left me there, got herself to safety. Instead, she dragged me to cover. Took a hit in the leg. The bone shattered. Years of physical therapy, and she still walks with a limp. It ended her field career. She's an analyst, now. We work together sometimes, and you know what? We still don't really get along. Just different personalities, I guess. But she's never once held it against me. Never... never acted like it was a big deal, like she didn't cripple herself to pull my ass out of the fire. You don't forget something like that.'
'You'd take a bullet for her?'
'It's the job.'
'And if it wasn't?'
She hesitated, but barely. 'Yes.'
'Well, then.' Cas leaned back. 'You do understand.'
Bao looked intently at Cas, as though she'd never seen him before. 'You said he saved you,' she said, slowly. 'It was the first thing I heard you say, before Crowley rang. You said that Dean saved you in every way that mattered.'
'Because he has,' said Cas. 'And I've saved him. Or I'm trying to, at least. And there's no right timeframe for something like that, except that when they fall, you catch them.'
'Love as salvation?' Bao raised an eyebrow. 'You'll forgive me, but neither of you strikes me as the romantic type.'
Cas snorted. 'What, on the basis of your long and studied observations of both of us? Or are you just succumbing to stereotype?'
'Touché.' Bao smiled and said, 'Well. I suppose I'll have to take your word for it, won't I?'
'Keep Dean safe,' said Cas, 'and you won't have to.'