ZEN i [JACK KLINE]

N I N E T E E N

19| C O W B O Y

TEAM FREE WILL 2.0 soon arrived at the Stampede Motel in Dodge City. They bought a suite and headed to their room with Dean leading. Zenja chuckles at her brother's clear enthusiasm towards the old west.

He grins and faces them. "All right, this is supposed to be the best room in the joint."

Dean unlocks the door and switches the lights on, only to reveal a cowboy styled room fitted with picture frames of different cowboys.

"Oh, ho! The Wild Bill suite.", Dean laughs as he looks around at all the cowboy decor, horse paintings, horns, antlers, animal heads, and photos of famous old west figures.

"Wow.", Sam and Zen muttered in surprise with slight horror. Zenja tried to hold back a laugh as she watched her big, bad, brother fangirl over cowboys. Sam, Cas, and Jack on the other hand, are more bewildered than impressed, but Dean's having the time of his life.

"Pretty cool, right? Dude! Check it out, check it out, check it out.", Dean says to the group and points at a picture frame. "Clay Allison - gun fighter extraordinaire, right? And, uh, Curly Bill Brocius, which - now, now, now, little fun fact here - was killed by Wyatt Earp himself.", he states with a smug look. The group looks at him in amusement.

"Not kidding. Johnny Ringo, Billy the Kid. Oh, look!", Dean exclaims as he walks over to the other pictures.

"He really likes cowboys.", Jack muttered to Cas and Zen.

They watch as Dean boops a stuffed buffalo head on the nose and says, "Hey, big guy. How you doin'? That's... What's going on, Calamity Jane?"

Zen laughs and shakes her head." You have no idea...", she says just as Castiel mutters, "Yes. Yes, he does."

"Doc Holliday! Hey-oh! This is awesome.", Dean has the biggest smile on his face as he faced the group. "All right, I say quick shower, steak dinner, and then tomorrow, we hit up the cemetery." He says before walking over to the bedrooms.

"Sounds like a plan.", Sam states as Dean swing the saloon door open.

Zen looks at Sam. " So, who am I bunking with?", she asks.

Sam grabs his bags from the floor. " Depends if Dean looses on rock, paper, scissors again.", Sam chuckles and walks inside the bedroom.

"Oh, yes! Stirrup hangers!", Dean exclaims from inside. Zen shakes her head at Dean and follows Sam inside the room, leaving the two awkward angels alone.

Jack looks at Castiel and says, "You can have the couch if you want. I don't sleep much."

Castiel sighs and looks around the room. "I don't sleep at all."

>••<

THE WINCHESTER WERE now asleep in their motel beds. Sam and Dean did R,P,S, but Dean chose scissors-What's new? So Zen had to bunk with him for the night.

Cas and Jack sit at the table talking quietly while Jack researches on his laptop. Castiel had asked him questions about his experiences so far.

"And then there were these angels and they tried to kill me, but... I thought angels were good?", Jack says confusedly.

Castiel sighs. "Well, in Heaven, "good's" a relative term."

Jack nods slowly. "What's it like? Heaven?", he asks curiously.

"Well, that depends."

"But it's nice?", Jack asks with big, curious eyes.

Castiel thinks about it for a moment before saying, "It can be."

Jack nods. "That's good. My mother's in Heaven.", he states with a small smile.

Castiel smiles at this and says, "Yeah, I know she is. Kelly was... She was a very brave woman."

Jack pauses for a second before saying, "She left me a message. She said I had an angel watching over me."

Castiel sighs in regret. "Jack, I'm so sorry. I-I should've been here for you."

Jack shakes his head. "No. It's okay. It's just... I understand why she trusted you. Why I trusted you."

"You remember that?", Cas asks.

Jack nods. "I remember feeling... safe."

Castiel looks at him. "Jack, your mother, she believed that you would do amazing things. She said that you would change the world for the better. And now, looking at you, talking to you, I know that she was right, that we were right. Kelly would be so proud of you."

Jack smiles at him. " Thank you Castiel..."

" I think I should be the one to thank you. You brought me back Jack.", Castiel says. " How did you do that anyways?"

Jack looks down. " I don't really know...what I do know is that your death took a huge toll on the Winchesters...especially, Zen. I could feel her powers acting out, the despair and pain.", he sighs. " It was awful Castiel."

Jack looks at the bedroom doors and frowns. " They were arguing a few days ago and they mentioned you. She yelled at them, enough that I could hear her voice turning raw. I just couldn't see her like that...I never want to see her like that again. Bringing you back was because I couldn't handle seeing her in pain...I never knew I could actually bring you back. It just happened.", he finishes.

Castiel thinks for a moment and studies him. " Your bond with her is stronger than I thought.", he mutters.

" Castiel...this bond...does it-can it make emotions?", Jack tries to say.

Castiel furrows his brows. " What do you mean?"

" I just-I feel something towards her, a weird feeling. I was just wondering if this bond has anything to do with it.", he states.

Castiel smirks. " You like her?"

Jack blushes. " I-I think so...but more than a friend. I like like her..."

Castiel places a hand on his shoulder. " Jack these feelings are not because you are bonded. Just because you are soulmates and she is your charge-It depends on you not the bond. The bond is just there to amplify whatever feelings you're feeling.", He explains.

Jack smiles. " Really?"

Cas nods. " Really."

The duo stayed silent for a minute until Jack speaks up. " I almost kissed her... ", he reveals.

Castiel snaps his head at him in shock. " You what?! When-"

He gets interrupted when the laptop beeps, drawing Jack's attention. Castiel sighs and looks at him. " We'll continue this conversation later...", he mutters.

Jack types something in and it beeps again, turning the laptop to show Cas what he's found.

"Oh, wow. I'll go tell them.", Jack says.

Castiel's eyes widened. "Jack. Jack!"

Jack jumps up and rushes to wake up Dean, while Cas attempts to stop him. Jack taps Dean's shoulder anyway, as Cas rushes into the room

"Dean? Dean?", Jack tries to wake him.

"Jack, I wouldn't do that!", Castiel warned as he walked in the room.

Dean wakes up violently, pulling a gun from beneath his pillow and aiming it at Jack " Ahh!", he yells, waking Zen and Sam up.

" What!? What's wrong!?", Zen slurrs as she pulled a gun from under her pillow and aimed it at the person Dean was aiming at.

"No, no, no! Dean, Zen, it's me. It's me.", Jack raises his arms up in fear. Cas stands by the swinging saloon doors in resignation.

Zen sighs in annoyance. " Jesus, J.", she mutters as she tucked her gun back under her pillow and yawns.

Dean relaxes and lays back down. "Ah, hey. Who's making me coffee?", he asks as he sleepily rubs his eyes. Jack still stared at him in shock while Cas rubs his forehead tiredly. Sam sits up from his bed and yawns.

Zen stretches and makes a weird sound before saying, " Definitely not it."