The first thing Castiel hears from Jody, Dean, and Patience's gathering is Dean saying an awkward, "Please?"

"Winchester —" Jody says, clearly on her last nerve.

"What's going on?" Castiel asks, mostly just to break the tension.

Dean crosses his arms and pouts. "She won't let me stay with Patience until the ambulance comes."

Castiel rolls his eyes. "I think you'll live."

"The ambulance is literally a minute away," Dean whines.

"She'll survive," Castiel deadpans.

Dean sighs dramatically and turns back to Patience. "Alright, I tried."

"It was a worthy attempt," she says.

Dean gently puts a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry you got wrapped up in this. But for what it's worth, I think you're a great kid. You're gonna be fine; it's just gonna take time."

She gives him a small smile. "Thank you, Dean. For everything."

Dean does end up getting his wish, because the ambulance chooses that moment to pull up. Jody gives him more than just the chance to stay with her until they arrive; she waits until Patience has been loaded onto a stretcher (that she insists she doesn't need, but ultimately, it's not her choice) before she pulls the two men aside.

Dean doesn't take his eyes off Patience until the back of the ambulance is closed and she's out of sight. Castiel watches him, confused. He's not sure why Dean likes this girl so much, but he's glad he does.

"Well, Winchester," Jody remarks, "you seem to have made some friends today."

Dean shrugs. "What can I say? I'm a people person."

Jody just shakes her head. "Alright, whatever." She turns her attention to Castiel. "First of all, how are you doing? You said you got hit twice? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Castiel says, which is a big fat lie. He is in so much pain right now. Not enough to have him sobbing on the floor, thankfully, but he will admit, he feels pretty close to it.

Jody eyes him skeptically. "If there's one thing I've learned today, it's that you are a hell of a liar. I'd like to think you were lying to the Vamps and that you haven't been lying to us, but right now, I can't help but feel like I'm being lied to."

Castiel chuckles awkwardly. Now feels like a good time to change the subject before she can grill him about how much pain he's actually in. "So, what did you want to talk to us about? Are we in trouble?"

Dean snorts. "What is this, kindergarten?"

Castiel just rolls his eyes. He's such a pain in the ass. Usually it's funny, but he can't say as much when work is involved.

"No, you're not in trouble," Jody says. "All things considered, I think today went fairly well. I think it goes without saying that you're taking tomorrow off to rest up. I'm sure once the adrenaline wears off, you're going to need the break."

Castiel gives an appreciative smile. He's pretty sure the adrenaline has worn off. At least, he hopes it has, because he'd rather not think about this hurting more by the end of the day. At that point, he might have to suck it up and go to the hospital, if only because they have really good painkillers there.

"I will admit," Jody says, "I wish you two could have done it without shooting anyone..."

"Oh, I totally didn't mean to," Dean says in a way that very clearly implies that he did mean to.

Castiel elbows him to shut him up. It's not like she didn't know that, but he doesn't have to remind her. He has immunity from anything he did before he signed his agreement; anything illegal he's done today is fair game if Jody wants to charge him with it.

"Of course not," Jody says, making it very clear in her tone of voice that she knows he's a lying sack of shit. She doesn't seem at all phased by it, though, which bodes well for him.

"Well, this is great and all," Dean says, "but I did what I promised, so can I go now?"

"Just one more thing," she says.

Dean throws his head back and groans very dramatically, and Castiel elbows him again.

"I just wanna go home, man," Dean says. "It's been bad enough since Jack disappeared. I don't want everyone to think I have, too."

"They know where you are," Castiel says simply, then makes a show of turning his attention back to Jody. This conversation is over.

Dean doesn't get that memo. "No, they don't. I only got the one phone call, and Sam didn't summon himself here." Dean pauses. "I mean, I guess he did, but only because I — look, you get the point. I didn't get to talk to them. They don't know where I am."

"They know where you are," Castiel repeats.

"How would they —" Dean cuts himself off when he figures it out. "Did you tell them about Jack, too?"

Castiel just nods. Dean is really bad at getting these subtle hints to shut the fuck up. Anyone with half a brain cell could piece together by now that Castiel was in contact with the Hunters, and Jody has more brain cells than just about anyone he knows.

He can't even imagine how this sounds to her. Throwing in a disclaimer that he rarely talks to any of the Hunters would probably just make it sound more suspicious after he just tried (and failed) to be secretive about it. It must look like talking to the Hunters is a common occurrence. He's not sure if he'd like to be asked to explain or if he'd rather she just pretend this never happened. Both feel like a losing situation for him.

Dean doesn't seem to know what to do with that information. After a pause, he resorts back to his default mood over the last 24 hours: annoyed. "Well, I still want to go home, so can we hurry this up anyway?"

"You could probably be on your way now if you'd just let me speak," Jody remarks.

Dean narrows his eyes.

"There was a lot today that I didn't understand," she tells them, "and I think I'm going to do us all a favor by forgetting about it. There's just one thing I have to ask about." She looks up at Dean. "One of the Vamps said 'your boy' killed some of —"

"He didn't," Dean interrupts.

"He seemed pretty confident that he did," Jody says. "And you went along with it really fast for someone who supposedly doesn't know what he was talking about."

Castiel presses his lips into a firm line. He'd known she would pick up on that and he'd assumed she'd ask, but it doesn't make it any easier to be in this situation. The fact that Dean is lying through his teeth doesn't help, either. It's better than admitting that Jack and Claire killed them, he supposes, but it still doesn't help.

Dean doesn't seem at all phased, though. "I know exactly what he was talking about, and he was wrong. The kid didn't kill them."

"But they are dead," Jody surmises.

"Yes."

Castiel raises an eyebrow. This is an interesting tactic.

"And do you know who did kill them?" Jody asks.

"I do."

Castiel cocks his head to the side. This is a really interesting tactic. Who's he going to pin it on? Or is he teasing her, just so he can say he won't tell her who it was? It would have been a hell of a lot easier to just pretend he didn't know who killed the guys, but he must have some idea what he's doing.

"And who was it?" Jody asks.

Dean shrugs nonchalantly. "Me."

Castiel looks over at him, surprised. What the fuck is he doing? Sure, he technically has immunity to anything he's done in the past, but that doesn't mean he should flaunt his past crimes — or, in this case, a crime he didn't even commit — to the cops.

Jody just looks at him for a minute, too, her face unreadable until she cracks a smile. "You know, Winchester, I think I judged you too harshly."

Dean's brows furrow together. "If killing a couple guys makes you like me more, I don't think I want to know what you thought of me before."

"You look out for your people, and I respect that," she tells him. "Not many people would tell the police they killed someone to protect a friend." With a glance at Castiel, she adds, "I get what Novak sees in you."

Castiel awkwardly looks down at the ground, his cheeks heating up.

"And don't worry, Novak," she says. "As far as anyone else is concerned, your nephew didn't do a thing." She nods in farewell, then walks away, presumably to head back to the station.

Castiel just watches her go, frozen. He's not sure what he's expected, but this definitely wasn't it. And the fact that she knows that it was Jack who killed the Vamps (or, technically, Vamp; Claire killed the other, but Jody doesn't have to know that much) and isn't going to pursue it? That's not how the police department is supposed to work. He's supposed to be nervous right now. He's supposed to fear for his nephew's safety and his freedom. And she's just going to walk away?

"Huh." Dean elbows him playfully. "That went well, huh?"

Castiel shakes his head at him. "I don't know how you got Jody to like you, but god, I wish I did." He has to think that's part of the reason Jody was so lenient. She really does seem to like him, in a weird sort of way. Not the same weird way Castiel does, of course -- no one could like Dean the same way he does -- but a weird way nonetheless.

"I guess I'm just better than you," Dean says teasingly. "But for real, I actually do want to go home, so can we...?"

"Oh, yeah, c'mon." Castiel gestures for him to follow. "We gotta go back to the station first, though."

Dean groans dramatically.

"Just for a few minutes," Castiel assures him. "You can spend the whole time talking to Sam if you want."

Dean perks up at that. "Then what the fuck are we still doing here? Let's go!"