2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Erik Kripke, Warner Brothers and quite possibly others who are not mentioned here. No money will be made from this fan fiction.

Summary: When Dean goes to sell his soul at the crossroads to bring Sam back, someone else steps in to negotiate the deal. Cas did get a sign and it sent him off into the past to change things. AU from The Man Who Would be King and All Hell Breaks Loose.

It's All in the Details

By Colleen

Chapter 2

Cas lasted all of a week before going back to check on the Winchesters. Finding them was simple. Because of the deal, he would be able to locate Dean anywhere. He arrived invisibly in a motel room, which wasn't much of a surprise. Dean and the two beautiful and athletic women with him were a little more startling, but only a little. Castiel watched them for about a minute, before coming to the conclusion that Dean was far more skilled at sex than the pizza man had been.

"Dean?"

Cas noticed Sam as the young man carefully cracked the door open and looked into the room.

"Oh, God." Sam retreated from the room rather quickly, which lead Cas to realize that watching was probably inappropriate. He popped outside and observed as Sam fought to not hyperventilate. Once he was sure that the younger Winchester was in no danger of passing out, he took his leave.

Over the next few weeks, Cas invisibly popped in several times to check on the Winchesters. He never stayed long. He spent the rest of the time making sure that he couldn't be found in this time, at least not by anyone other than his Father. There was no way he could ward himself that well. Any others though, be they angels, demons, or pagan gods, would be unable to sense him. Even standing in front of him, anything less powerful than a Seraphim level Archangel would not recognize what he was. That meant that a being at Michael's level or higher would, but they still wouldn't be able to tell exactly who he was without breaking the warding down. And after adding Heaven's weapons to his strength, it was unlikely they would be able to do so.

Once the warding was complete, he started on a couple of new projects. Safe houses and money. Bolt holes in case everything hit the fan and cash… well, it wasn't something he usually needed, but it had come up in the past a few times. The safe houses, essentially beautiful rooms, only with different decorating schemes, were simple enough to create. Money the honest way, that was a little harder.

He might never have thought of it if he hadn't found a penny on the floor of an old warehouse he was looking over as a potential room site. People lost money all the time. Usually small change, but that could add up, especially when you could search an area as fast as Cas could.

It took him a week to search the entire country. He hadn't seen any reason to rush. Most of what he collected were pennies, but he'd found bills as well. Largely ones and fives with a few tens and the occasional twenty dollar bill mixed in as well.

He spent another week rolling the change and counting it all. Yes, he could have done it much, much, much faster, but other than the room creation and checking up on Dean and Sam and occasionally Bobby, there wasn't anything he needed to be doing. At final count, the funds he'd collected came out to just a little over half a million dollars.

Not having used money much, he wondered if that was a particularly useful amount.

It certainly was heavy. Using banks across the country, he exchanged a majority of the rolled coins for paper money. Then he spread the funds out between the safe rooms he'd set up, keeping a reasonable amount of money on himself in case of emergency.

He was sure that 50,000 was reasonable, even if he had to compress it into a wallet that he'd created that could hold more than should physically be possible. He dropped it into a pocket of his trench coat and pretty much ignored it from then on.

Sam crouched in the dirt, placed the box carefully into the hole and covered it over with earth and gravel. He stood and looked down each lane of the crossroads.

"Sam Winchester."

Sam turned and felt his lips twist into a snarl. There was a crossroads demon standing there, but it wasn't the same guy as before. This one would have reminded him of a hound dog, if it weren't for the red in his droopy eyes.

"I was looking to deal with Cas."

The guy snorted and the red dropped out of his eyes, turning them the colour of long cold ash. "If that's the guy who took over your brother's deal, then you aren't the only one."

Sam looked at him, confusion and annoyance warring for dominance across his face. "What do you mean?"

The guy shook his head. "Let's just say that my boss ain't too happy that some over powered, bone headed demon, charcoal briquetted my predecessor to take over Dean's contract and then disappeared with it. He didn't even file any of the paperwork."

Paperwork in Hell… Sam gave his head a shake. No, that actually made sense.

"So, you're saying Dean's contract doesn't exist."

The demon out and out laughed. "Hell, no. I'm saying some high powered mucky, muck wants old Dean'o for himself. When that contract comes due, your brother's his own personal chew toy."

The sick, hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach that Sam had been living with for the last few weeks yawned open and it took almost everything he had not to double over and chuck up what he'd had for dinner that night.

He pulled the Colt out from where he'd tucked into the back of his jeans and aimed it at the demon. The guy put his hands up and shuffled back a half step. "Hey, shooting me's not going to get you anything."

"Who's Cas? I need a real name." With a name, he could summon him directly.

The demon shrugged. "You've got me."

"Then who would know?"

The guy shook his head. "I don't know. Hell, I think even the boss doesn't know and before you ask, no, you can't talk to him." He smirked at Sam's glare. "So, are we here to make a deal, or are you just blowing smoke?"

Sam nodded. "Smoke, definitely." Then he pulled the trigger.

The demon jerked as the bullet hit him between the eyes. He jerked again as it did its job, his body lighting up as the demonic essence in it was destroyed. The body jerked a third time and then dropped to the ground, dead.

Sam blew the smoke away from the muzzle of the gun and then pointed it down and slightly to the side as he looked at the dead body. He resisted the urge to growl at it and turned, leaving it in the middle of the crossroads. As he walked back to the car, he thought over his options.

There seemed to be only one left. He would have to try to summon the demon, even with an incomplete name. He'd have to wait until he could find a safe place to make the attempt. His best bet would be one of the abandoned properties near Bobby's place. He knew of one or two that were secure enough for the work.

"You know, when this is over, we should really have angry sex." Cas blinked at the beautiful woman who said those words, and then turned in the same direction she was looking, blinking twice when he took in Dean, wearing a tuxedo. He had seen the hunter in a suit many times before. It was his standard costuming when impersonating a federal officer after all. However, none of them had looked like this.

Looking intrigued, and then slightly embarrassed, Dean crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't objectify me."

As they left, Cas wondered if he should follow them, and then decided against it. From the sounds of things, whatever was happening had a high chance of becoming inappropriate to watch.

Although he knew that sex was often seen as a private thing, he wasn't sure why it was all right to watch the pizza man on television, but it was apparently an awkward enough thing that even he felt it when it came to real life. He shook his head, suspecting it had something to do with the personal space rule.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at Sam. "Why?"

"Because, I'm going after the demon that's holding Dean's contract. Apparently he's keeping it to himself because…"

Ruby winced. "I'd heard his contract wasn't showing up through the normal channels." The expression on her face told him she felt she ought to tell him something, but really didn't want to.

"What, what is it?"

"Sam, a demon, especially a high powered one, taking a personal interest in Dean… Let's just say, I wouldn't want to be your brother when his deal comes due."

"Yeah, that's kind of what I was afraid of. So, will you lend me the knife?"

Ruby shook her head. "You've already got the Colt, you don't need this as well."

"Probably not, but if I'm going to do this, then I want to go in with everything." He could see that she was wavering. "If you're worried about the knife, you could always come with me and help."

Sam would be lying if he said that he was surprised when Ruby laughed at the suggestion. Still, it got him the desired result. She pulled the knife out, sheath and all and handed it to him. "Sorry Sam, you're on your own for this one. Just make sure you get it back to me." She gave him a little glare. "In other words, don't get killed."

"Didn't know you cared so much."

"Yeah, yeah."

They had been with Bobby for a few days now, healing up from a run in with a couple of pagan gods with a Christmas fetish. They were planning on hanging out until after the New Years, intending to help the older hunter celebrate with copious amounts of liquor. Or at least, Dean was.

To that end, he was finishing up a supply run. He had enough beer, whiskey and junk food filling the Impala to feed and inebriate twenty people. Dean figured that it would last the three of them until the morning of January 2nd.

It was already dark by the time Dean got back to Bobby's place. He parked as close to the back door as he could and grabbed one of the cases of beer and a couple of bags of groceries. He dropped them off in the kitchen and gave a holler for some help before going out for a second load.

"Dean."

"Oh, hey Bobby, I've got more in the car…"

"Dean, never mind the groceries, have you seen your brother?"

"I thought Sammy said something about the library."

"Yeah, well if that's where he ended up, then he took a couple of my books and some of my supplies with him."

Dean dropped the bags he was holding on the counter next to the sink. "And what could one do with those books and supplies."

Bobby grimaced slightly. "Summon something."

Dean's eyes fell closed for a moment. "Crap. Crapity, crap, crap." He bolted out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Bobby followed him to the bottom of the staircase. His grimace got worse as he heard Dean banging around in the room he was sharing with his brother and swearing.

"He took the Colt with him." Dean said from the top of the stairs. Bobby got out of his way as he came back down. "Any place specific he'd have to do it?"

Bobby shook his head. "Nah, just private." He thought for a moment. "There's a couple of places nearby that are abandoned. He might have gone to one of them." Dean nodded and pulled out his cell phone, hitting Sam's number. He ran through a few more curses when it went to voice mail.

"What do you thinks he's trying to summon?"

Dean stuffed his phone back into his pocket. "I think he's going to try to raise the demon that made the deal with me. Problem is, unless he knows something I don't, then he doesn't have its real name."

"Crap."

"Yep."

Bobby sighed, went over to his desk and quickly wrote down some directions on a piece of scrap paper. "Here, you take this one, I'll check out the other place."

Castiel arrived invisibly in the back seat of the Impala and found himself jammed up against two cases of beer and several grocery bags filled with potato chips. A glance into the front of the car showed him that Dean was alone, and driving much to fast.

Dean growled and slapped one of his hands against the steering wheel. "Dammit Sammy."

Wondering if the two brothers had had a fight or if something more serious was going on, Cas reached out with his senses to find Sam. Without the Enochian warding he'd placed on them in another time the young man was easy to locate.

What he was doing however… That truly shocked the angel.

The ingredients were in the bowl and the words were said. Sam took a deep breath, lit the match and held it over the bowl before dropping it.

He wasn't expecting the hand that caught it and snuffed it out half way to its destination.

"Are you insane?"

The trench coat wearing demon that had made Dean's deal was standing in front of him, looking extremely pissed off. The early arrival caught Sam flatfooted. He hadn't had the chance to pick up the Colt from where it was lying next to the bowl. He scrambled for it, fingers just touching the handle before the demon power flung him half the length of the barn he was using. Sam twisted with the throw, managing to take the fall more on his side than his back. It still hurt, but nothing was seriously damaged.

He levered himself into a sitting position as the deal demon stepped around the table Sam had set up his altar on and stalked towards the downed hunter. "Do you know what could have happened if you'd finished the summons with an incomplete name?" Still angry, the demon swept the bowl off the table behind him with a wave of his hand, scattering the ingredients across the wood flooring and rendering them useless. "Off the top of my head I can think of at least two entities that could have answered it, and both of them would have burned your eyes out simply by appearing before you."

Sam looked at him, stunned. "Why the hell do you care?"

He never got an answer. The sound of the Impala pulling up outside the barn announced Dean's arrival. Cas threw a look towards the other hunter as he entered, gun drawn. The tableau of an angry demon standing over his brother froze Dean in his tracks and the two of them stared at each other for a few precious moments.

It gave Sam the time to pull Ruby's knife from the sheath at his side.

With one move he was up and jamming the blade into the demon's chest. The blow was hard enough that it should have staggered him, but the trench-coated form didn't even move an inch.

Cas stared down at the knife jutting out from his chest and then back to Sam's face. At any other time he would have been mad at Sam for stabbing him, but this was too much like the first time he'd met Dean. With a wry little smile, he wrapped his hand around the hilt of the blade. Pulling it out, he let it fall to the ground.

Disturbed by the smile on his face, and the fact that the knife didn't affect him, Sam took a step back from Cas even as Dean moved forward. The older brother pulled the younger one behind him and squared off against the demon. Dean didn't want to admit it, but the fact that the guy seemed amused by having been stabbed by the big time magic knife scared Dean in ways he didn't want to contemplate.

"Look, he didn't mean anything by it."

The guy raised an eyebrow at that statement and yeah, Dean had to admit, it was both lame and untrue. He heaved out a breath of air. "He was just trying to help me. If you have to take that out on anyone, then take it out on me."

"Dean, no."

"Shut up, Sam." Dean growled out and manoeuvred his body so that his brother couldn't manage to get in front of him again. A glance back at the demon showed him that the guy was once more working towards annoyed. Dean locked his eyes with him, almost jerking back when he felt a feathery touch… not so much against his skin, as inside of himsef.

Dean came close to giving up breathing. He felt something in him connect to the trench-coated figure in front of him. If he had tended towards chick flick moments, he might have called it a bond. Since he didn't, his first reaction was to panic. His thoughts and intentions had suddenly been laid open to another being. Dean tried to shut his brain down, empty it of anything important, but it was too late. He didn't know if what Sam had done could be considered an attempt by Dean to weasel out of the deal. If it were… Dean couldn't offer to give up the time he had left. Was nearly physically incapable of doing that, despite the fact that he kept taking stupid chances with his life. However, he could feel that the demon now knew that if he were to demand it of him as the only way to stop Sam from dying again, he would do it without question.

Cas broke eye contact with him first. If Dean hadn't known better, he'd have almost thought that the guy looked, ashamed.

"Sam."

The younger Winchester jerked as the demon said his name. "Yeah?"

"Do you really want to help your brother?"

"No!" Dean cried out. "No Sammy, do not make a deal with him."

"Sam?"

Sam looked at his brother, and then steeled himself. "Yes, yes I want to help my brother."

Dean made a frustrated sound that didn't really translate into English.

Cas fixed his gaze on the younger brother. "Then read his contract over first." He glanced back at the ruined altar. "By the way, if you try to summon me like that again, I'll burn your eyes out myself."

Sam swallowed, hard. "Wait. How am I supposed to read Dean's contract?"

The demon frowned slightly. "Dean has a copy."

Sam glared at his brother, but Dean just looked confused. "I do?"

"Yes. I etched it into your soul."

And with that, he was gone.

A/N: Cas finding about half a million dollars in lost money by searching the entire country is probably a very conservative amount. I just didn't want to over do it. Also, I've wanted to use the idea for awhile, so I do so here.