Sam's fingers were practically rubbing holes into his temples. Demon after demon, heaps of mortal bodies in threes and fours scattered around his feet. Ruby should have been here a long time ago. He'd been summoning her for nearly fifteen minutes now.

"Sam! You have to stop them!"

Sam whirled around, turning his back on the lot of bodies. He'd been concentrating so hard with his inner eyes and ears that he'd neglected to pay attention to the real world. Dean and Bobby held between them a large round human-sized cage. Ruby was inside.

"Sam, they came to stop you!"

Sam pulled a pistol from his pocket, stepping back, miraculously dodging planting his heal in the rotting face of some poor dead mortal. In an instant, Dean felt the force of Bobby under the cage disappear. He felt it before he heard the pistol go off. The cage fell with Bobby, the top coming off and rattling away like a demented hula hoop. As Ruby got to her feet, Sam advanced.

Dean was in shock. Reeling. He did not make any moves to defend himself as Sam dropped the pistol and pulled out a knife. He only thought "Why the knife? Why not quick and painless for me?"

As the knife slid in, Dean's vision went white.

Dean.

White with heaven?

Dean.

Or white with love, or hate, or regret? It was some sort of extreme passion materialized through light.

Dean, wake up.

Or maybe it was an over-head lamp hanging two and a half feet from his face. His eyes popped open and he nearly jolted right out of the booth as Castiel slid in opposite him.

"I didn't keep you waiting that long, did I?"

"No. I guess I just nodded off."

"You're not sleeping well at night." Castiel said. Of course, he knew. He probably watched Dean in his sleep with some sort of magic crystal orb or something.

"Well, would you? I mean...come on."

"I won't pretend to know what it's like for you."

"Good, because the last thing I need is an empathetic angel riding my ass."

The waitress, for the second time, came to the table. "I see your friend has arrived, Sir. Are you ready to order, now?"

"Yes. I'll have a plain plate of chicken and waffles."

"Alright." She scribbled away in her little notebook and then lifted her head up to signal to Castiel that it was his turn to order. Dean also turned his head to the angel as if to say "you want anything? I'm buying."

Castiel just looked between the two of them, for the first time since Dean'd first met him, he seemed absolutely at a loss for words.

"Come on. It's delicious." Dean coaxed before turning back to the waitress with a smirk. "He'll have what I'm having."

"Alright. Two chicken and waffle plates. I'll bring that out to you as soon as it's ready." She smiled, her full lips parting to reveal perfect straight white teeth. When she turned to walk away, Dean couldn't help but admire her rear end. Ebony thighs disappearing up the deliciously short skirt and forming the mound.

"Check out the back-seat on that one." He grinned.

Castiel's inquisitive expression soon turned to a warning one.

"Don't worry, man. I got it."

"Through theft."

Dean shrugged. "Gotta eat."

"But must you objectify women while you do it?"

"Is there any other way?" Dean popped his neck which was starting to feel sore from the position he'd fallen asleep in only moments ago. "Anyhow. Why're we here?"

"You're asking me?" Castiel asked, indicating their surroundings with a sweep of the hand.

"I don't mean why're we here at this restaurant. We're here because I have a hard-on for deep fried soul food. I mean why're we in LA?"

"I'm not at liberty to divulge just yet."

"I'm not at liberty to divulge just yet." Dean mocked him, sounding less like Castiel than Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman. "Please don't tell me it has anything to do with the name of the city. I swear to God, if He's making me into some sort of apocalyptic Meg Ryan I will-..."

"You'll what?" Castiel challenged.

"Well, first I'd have to check myself out topless in the mirror..."

"Here you go." The waitress said with good cheer, sliding a plate in front of Dean, and one in front of Castiel. Dean's salivary glands perked right up at the hot smell. Castiel only studied his as though it were as alien as it probably was to him.

Dean dug in without wasting time. Knife and fork worked vigorously to spread the giant ice-cream scoop of butter his waffles were topped with. Then he poured both of the cups of syrup over them and the utensils took flight once again in cutting up the waffles into tiny, mouth-sized pieces for easy shoveling. Castiel watched all of this in sight amusement. Dean only paused when he felt the pensive stare.

"Well. You gonna eat that, or what?"

"No. I'm not." Castiel said. Almost defiantly, though Dean didn't figure it was meant to sound that way. After all, deliberate defiance was too human a pleasure.

"Come on. I didn't purchase that meal in vain. Chow down. Live a little."

Surprisingly, this seemed to work on Castiel. He followed Dean's lead in the preparation of his food exactly, only slightly more dignified. That shouldn't have been hard. He had been studying him the whole time. But it was Dean's turn to watch in amazement, now, as Castiel lifted the first fork-full to his lips. He hoped he'd figure out how to chew when it got in.

"If I choke, you have to help me."

"If you...what? I'm not performing the Heimlich maneuver on an angel. Besides, I'm sure your divine power will allow you to will it out of your own esophagus."

Castiel shot Dean a glare.

"I'm not worried for myself, Dean. I'm worried for the man."

"Oh. Right." Dean became serious again. Apologetically so. But the demeanor did not last. "You let the meat slide down your throat-hole." And he even used his best Adam Sandler impersonation. However, it was completely lost on Castiel. Oh well. Dean thought it was funny.

"And I'm not eating because you demanded it, Dean. The up-keep of this man's body is still a priority to me. He does require nourishment every now and then. It's only that..." Castiel's eyes dropped to the bite on the fork just a few inches from his lips "the nourishing quality of this food is questionable."

"No believe me." Dean took a massive bite of chicken, followed it with a massive chunk of waffle, and chewed them, mixing and homogenizing them over his palate. "It does a body good." He swallowed, allowed himself to reel the way that a good mouth-full of food will make him, and then rested his eyes back on the angel, who was subsequently sliding the bit of waffle into his mouth.

His eyes closed momentarily, and then opened again as his tongue could be seen moving around behind his cheeks, rolling the human food over and around in his mouth, trying to find the perfect place to let it rest and be tasted before moving on to mastication. His expression was...why...it was orgasmic, Dean mused. Completely and wholly sensual. Dean almost felt it himself.

Castiel only chewed a few moments before he guessed it was good enough to swallow. Dean followed his adam's apple all the way up and down the length of his throat and Castiel's eyes closed again. But still, only briefly.

"Good, huh?" Dean smirked.

"I wouldn't call it divine."

"Neither would I. But a close second, how about?"

"It's enjoyable." Castiel resigned.

"I bet you don't get to enjoy much from the human world, do you?"

"Gravely, no. In fact, the reason I asked you to meet me out for lunch was because I was hoping for the opportunity to get some food into this vessel. I'd just...put too much faith in you when I assumed you'd be able to pick an appropriate place on your own."

"Oh, come on." Dean said. "Treat yourself. This is much better than that rabbit food they serve at that vegan place Sam dragged me to last week."

The two of them maintained eye-contact as Dean wrapped a napkin around a piece of chicken and took a beast-sized bite out of it and Castiel cut a small choke-hazard-free piece off with his knife and fork and received it slowly and appreciatively as before.

Simultaneously, the two of them made a most human and male grunt, then, surprised, each swallowed abruptly and stared wide-eyed at one another.

"Okay. This is getting a little too weird for me." Dean said. "I mean...it's one thing for us to have lunch together, but it's another thing for us to both get off on it."

"For what?" Castiel inquired, sincerely.

"Ah, never mind. What I mean is...we're both enjoying this a little too much for me to be comfortable with it."

"There should be nothing sexual about a man and an angel eating in a fried food restaurant, Dean."

"Exactly. There shouldn't be. Stop making it that way."

"I don't even have a sex drive."

"I don't buy that. If you can enjoy a plate of chicken and waffles, you can enjoy..." Dean's eyebrows came together, and he was so irritated that he couldn't blame the start of this conversation on the angel.

"Dean, you can't blame me if you're sexually attracted to this body."

Oh. This was getting SO wrong.

"I'm not, buddy. I'm not even gay. Besides, don't you guys up there believe that's unnatural?"

"It's perfectly natural for people of the same sex to be attracted to each other. Remember, the bible was a loose human translation of the word of God. It wasn't direct from the source. I apologize for selecting a vessel that you find titillating. I never would've chosen it for that reason. It's of little use to me if you're constantly distracted by its aesthetic pleasantness."

"I'm not, okay? It isn't that. Have I ever looked at you like I wanted to jump your bones?"

"Not until this afternoon."

"The hell? I did no such thing! You just...when you were eating..."

"You were titillated by it."

"You have got to stop using that word." Dean shoved his plate away from himself. "Great. I've lost my appetite. And that's something that I just don't do."

"We can get...what's it called? A doggy bag?"

Dean had meant for his action to be emphatic, but who was he to turn down food?

"Okay. Fine. But we need to have a little talk when we get back to the hotel."

"You're taking me to your hotel?"

"Not if you're going to put it that way."

To be continued...