AUTHOR'S NOTES: Warnings for mpreg, for those who may not like it. (I do like it.) Don't like, don't read, play nicely.

Dean was the first to notice that Castiel was acting differently; more edgy, more likely to jump, to flinch, hand raised as though desperate to smite whenever someone - usually Dean - did something as simple as drop his keys or even sneeze in his general direction. He didn't know how to bring it up with Castiel himself, too mindful of perhaps prying into his lover's business, so brought it up with Sam instead, in the hopes that his brother would be able to tell him what to do.

He caught Sam alone one day, while Castiel was busy having his wings cleaned or whatever it was that Castiel did whenever he wasn't with them.

"Dude, can I ask you something?" Dean asked, clearing his throat uncomfortably, eyes looking at the floor as though too uncomfortable to look at Sam directly.

"You know you can; at least within reason you can," Sam replied, voice changing slightly, as though wondering just what Dean was about to ask him.

"Have you noticed Castiel acting differently lately?" Dean asked, worried gaze flickering up to find Sam's puzzled eyes, concerned frown.

"Cas? Acting strangely how?" Sam asked carefully, and by the look in his younger brother's eyes, Dean could see that he had, in fact, noticed Dean's lover acting differently, but hadn't commented upon it.

"He's more jumpy, lately. He looks like he's ready to jump out of his skin every time I drop the damn keys or slurp my milkshake too loudly. I don't know what's happening. Is that normal behavior?" Dean asked, turning his gaze more fully to Sam's now, looking lost but not without the promise of hope.

"I don't know, dude, you're the one who's going steady with an angel, you should be telling me that. I don't know the first thing about angels, at least not in the romantic sense," Sam replied, carefully, eyes looking shiftier still as though he felt a little trapped by the current situation.

Dean sighed, before he continued with his plea, his impassioned speech.

"I'm asking you because you've been in a steady relationship before. I haven't. I've never been serious about anyone before Cas, with the exception of Cassie and look how that turned out. I don't know if lovers are supposed to - flinch," and Dean shrugged helplessly, the tenuous hope that had been there previously now bleeding away and leaving him looking empty.

"No, Jess didn't flinch away from me. Okay, she was kinda jumpy and aggressive once a month, but you know," and Sam gave his brother a one shouldered shrug and a weary look. "Then again, she wasn't an angel, neither was she in a male vessel. I can't say whether Castiel's having his - you know."

With that, Sam coughed uncomfortably, eyes shifting and resting on nothing in particular. Dean sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to gain patience and a plea for answers from someone.

"Does he, you know, refuse sex?" Sam asked, next, looking even more uncomfortable with discussing his brother's sex life as much as he did the basic female biology. "Jess did that sometimes."

"No, that's the point," Dean said, a smile lighting his ace and making his eyes shine with remembered bliss and pleasure. "He's very aggressive in bed. He really wants it; and I mean really. Oh man, I've never felt so - I should be shutting up now, right?"

Dean laughed at the sour, uncomfortable look that was pushing Sam's face into the most uncomfortable look his brother had yet to sport, making Dean laugh even more.

"Okay, so we've determined his need for sex is normal, if a little needy," Sam continued, still looking sour and slightly disgusted by the idea of Dean and Castiel actually being happily physical with one another. "How is he afterwards?"

"He's good, can't stop smiling. In fact he's ready to go again within seconds. He's not usually that insistent. In fact, he wears me out," Dean said, eyes looking off into the distance, a sappy smile settled on his mouth and making him look blissfully in love for the briefest of moments. "Hmm."

Sam had to smile, despite his uncomfortable state at that moment. He'd never seen Dean so happy, so blissfully unaware of everything else as when he was with Castiel or talking about him, or even thinking about him. Dean had never been that way with anyone else, and it was obvious he cared deeply about, even loved the angel, or, Sam assumed, he wouldn't even be bringing up the current topic of conversation at all.

"Dean," Sam said, wearily, on the tail end of a wistful sigh.

He waited, but Dean was too far gone in whichever sexual fantasy he was replaying in his head, and Sam snorted through his nose at his irrepressible brother.

"Dean, dude," he said, sharply, nudging his brother and waving one large hand in front of his brother's face erratically. "Cas is doing a strip tease."

"Huh? Where?" Dean asked, eyes darting around and seeking out partially naked angels hopefully. "Son of a bitch! Cas isn't doing a strip tease! What you're trying to do to me, huh?"

Sam started to laugh, dimples flashing in the light and leaving deep impressions in his cheeks, eyes closed in genuine mirth.

"I had you going there, though, didn't I? Got your attention," the younger hunter said, smirking over his success at attracting Dean's attention away from his X rated thoughts.

"Yeah, you got it, now what is it?" Dean asked, looking as close to a pout as would ever come without actually admitting to doing so.

"Have you tried actually asking Cas what's up? You never know; he might tell you what's wrong," Sam said, gently, laying one hand on his brother's shoulder and squeezing gently.

"I thought of that, Sammy. I didn't want to, in case the answer was something bad," Dean admitted sheepishly, voice trailing off uncomfortably as his gaze dropped to the ground.

"Bad? What makes you think his answer will be bad?" Sam asked, mouth dropping open in abstract surprise.

"He might not want me any more," Dean said, after a brief, visible internal struggle.

Sam sighed through his nose, lips pressed together in sudden disapproval, gaze travelling to some far off point as he fought for the right words to say to his brother. When his gaze returned to Dean's, the older hunter was staring at him, looking uncomfortable, defeated even before the race had started.

"Seriously? I don't think you know Cas as well as you should, Dean," Sam told his brother. "It's obvious he's crazy about you. He's not gonna up and leave you. I think you'd have to physically beat him with a stick before he lets you alone."

"Really?" Dean asked, expression brightening with degrees with the return of hope to his heart, his soul, his being.

"Really. Dean, Cas loves you, it's obvious," Sam told him, suddenly feeling like the elder brother instead of the younger. "I think he loves you as much as you love him."

He gave Dean a sidelong glance and smiled in appreciation when Dean didn't argue the matter, just accepted the situation in the context he should.

"I think you should talk to him, Dean, find out what the real reason is behind why he's so jumpy. The only way you're gonna find out is to ask, and the only person to ask is Cas himself," Sam continued gently, laying his hand on Dean's shoulder and guiding him from the room. "Now call him, and tell him you need him, need to talk. It's the only way to find out."

"Okay," Dean said, quietly, looking for all the world like the world's oldest scolded child.

Sam smiled and left his side, left him to his privacy, glancing back only once to catch Dean beginning to talk on his exposed cell phone held in one nervous hand. He shook his head to himself, sighed again and wondered when Dean found it necessary to start asking him for dating tips.

-TBC-