Why Is It Called A 'Rhinovirus' Anyway? SPN Dean, Cas

[Sass]

continuing to love this story, you have a really great writing style that captures the scene so well!

[daystar428]

Loving this!! Dean and Cas are sooo cute. I wonder how Sam will ever avoid not catching it.... Hehehe

[KickingUpTheDust]

hello all...i have returned

I am very sorry for leaving so suddenly - don't worry I will be continuing this. I've had some personal issues (I've explained it on the support group) but I'm back and I should have a new piece up for ypu all in a few days. sorry again, it's just been a pretty rough couple of weeks to say the least xxx

[Pyrus_Fangmon]

hello all...i have returned

I am very sorry for leaving so suddenly - don't worry I will be continuing this. I've had some personal issues (I've explained it on the support group) but I'm back and I should have a new piece up for ypu all in a few days. sorry again, it's just been a pretty rough couple of weeks to say the least xxx

No worries at all, hon! Please do care for yourself first. the story can always wait.

[KickingUpTheDust]

Castiel's 'people skills' may have been 'rusty', but even he could understand what Sam had meant when he said the town was xenophobic. They had barely entered the library, a plain, spartan sort of room with a small draught blowing in from an unknown source. Immediately, was it ten, twenty, pairs of eyes fell on Sam and Cas. Hard as stone and suspicious, full of steel and malice. Castiel swallowed painfully. He was probably more welcome in Hell than in here.

"Remember what I told you, Cas." Sam murmured, as they walked briskly behind some shelves,

Cas nodded, one hand dabbing his nose with his sleeve, the other buried in his pocket, fishing for a tissue to smother a wet sneeze and Sam winced. Cas had lowered the volume but it was still enough to draw frowns their way.

"Cas...just a little quieter?" Sam whispered, very aware of their audience,

"I'b tryig, Sab," Castiel sniffed, provoking a slight of guilt within the younger Winchester, "it's quite difficult."

"I know, buddy, but just try it...I'm gonna go and do some research. You go ahead and find out stuff about the common cold. Biology section should have something - knock yourself out." he gave Cas' shoulder a reassuring squeeze and walked off, half-wondering if he should stay with the angel.

But they were in a library, as long as he kept quiet, what kind of shenanigans could Castiel get himself into?

THUMP.

Sam nearly jumped out his skin as Cas dropped a pile of books down on the table he was sat at with an almighty thud. The hunter had been poring over a few different, increasingly dull, history books on the town - each and every minute becoming less and less encouraged. Nothing in any books, google searches or general look of the town suggested anything strange or gruesome happened here or it's surrounding area. In fact, the strangest thing about the town - aside from the rude locals - was that it appeared to be the most boring town in the northern United States. Just like any other town.

"How...many books did you find, Cas?" Sam asked, warily eyeing the stack in front of him and pointedly ignoring the glares around him.

"I have dot counted theb." Cas replied stonily, "I foud sobe od cobbod diseases, hubad adatmoby, ibbudology ad then I foud the 'fadtasy ad bythology' ad thed..."

"Ok, ok, so...are you gonna read all that?"

"I will...attebt to...hih!"

"Cas?"

"Excuse be, I had the urge to sdeeze but it seebs to have faded." He rubbed his nose, looking like a puppy who had been denied a treat, "I dislike that feelig."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Sam sighed, "Ok well, I guess we'd best get reading then."

[NorthernLady]

LOL Cas has been wandering in the mythology section... foreshadowing something?

And that lost sneeze Can't wait to see what happens when they start reading the dusty book, it's bound to have an effect on the trying-to-sneeze-quietly angel

"I know, buddy, but just try it...I'm gonna go and do some research. You go ahead and find out stuff about the common cold. Biology section should have something - knock yourself out." he gave Cas' shoulder a reassuring squeeze and walked off, half-wondering if he should stay with the angel.

I almost though Cas would ask what that meant by that or that he would effectively find a way to knock himself out. Maybe that what that mythos book is all about Or maybe he'll just nod off Hihi love this!

Edited June 28, 2015 by NorthernLady

[Pyrus_Fangmon]

THUMP.

Sam nearly jumped out his skin as Cas dropped a pile of books down on the table he was sat at with an almighty thud.

Nice Hunter reflexes there Sam

Omg this is too good! What could possibly happen with that lost sneeze? Guess we'll find out

[KickingUpTheDust]

Dean, surrounded by junk food and tissues, relaxed back in the tatty but surprisingly comfy chair in front of the small TV. No confused angels, no bitching little brothers and no sneezing but his -

"Uh-TSCHOOO! Etcheew!"

- own.

"What do we got here?" a husky voice asked, and there he was...in all his cowboy-booted, perfect-haired, medical glory...

"Male, late twenties, early thirties? Found unconscious, minor stab wound to the chest..."

"Let's see what we got."

Dean suppressed a surge of jealousy as Doctor Sexy cut off the patient's shirt and examined his chest. Dear God, what he wouldn't do to have that man examine him even if it did mean getting -

"AhhhIIISSSHHHH!"

Dean jumped out of his skin as the sound of Cas' sneeze practically shouted from outside and glanced at the time - half an hour? No way, Sam usually spent way more time in the library than that. Had there been trouble?

In walked a flustered Sam and a...strangely abashed-looking Cas.

"What happed? You've barely beed god thirty bidutes?"

"Why? Did we interrupt your Doctor Sexy MD marathon?" sniped Sam,

Dean was about to protest and say 'no' but then he realised that lying was futile as 1.) Sam already knew about his guilty pleasure and 2.) the TV was still on.

"So why are you two back so early, I thought Cas had his owd resear - huh...hhuhuhUTCHEEEWW! Research to do...sodof a bitch - adzHEEEWWW!"

"Yeah, well, we were doing research until we got kicked out." Sam glowered over at Cas, who had a look strangely reminiscent of a puppy who chewed up something he should and then peed on the carpet.

"Oh bad, Cas, what did you do?"

The angel was looking pathetic, arguably more pathetic than Dean did, and that was saying something. For Dean, the facade was gone and he had fully given into the whole 'sick day' look. Castiel was still suit-clad, clutching a tissue to his red nose and looking like he'd gone a few rounds with Pestilence.

"The librariad was very rude." Cas replied defensively, "I was tryig to be as quiet as could be, but hubad bodies are so sedsitive, I did by best..." he trailed off, forget-me-not eyes downcast.

"I'b sure you did, buddy," Dean told him, shooting Sam a look when he caught his brother rolling his eyes, "but what wedt od, how did you two get kicked out?"

Sam grabbed a handful of doritos from the bag, "Ok, this is how it went down..."

[NorthernLady]

Sam grabbed a handful of doritos from the bag, "Ok, this is how it went down..."

OH YOU ARE KILLING ME!!!!!!! (please don't make us wait too long )

Edited July 1, 2015 by NorthernLady

[Pyrus_Fangmon]

Sam grabbed a handful of doritos from the bag, "Ok, this is how it went down..."

GAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! HOW DARE YOU CLIFF HANG SOMETHING LIKE THIS!!!???

(bounces impatiently in chair while waiting for the next part)

[HPG]

Dean suppressed a surge of jealousy as Doctor Sexy cut off the patient's shirt and examined his chest. Dear God, what he wouldn't do to have that man examine him even if it did mean getting -

Haha! That was really awesome internal monologuing.

[KickingUpTheDust]

To give Cas at least a bit of credit, he did try his best.

He had picked the first book off the pile and frowned at it, rubbing his running nose discreetly and, Sam could tell, trying not to sniffle.

But the more pages Cas turned, the deeper his frown got and he began to look both confused and distressed.

"Hhhmmmm..."

"What, what is it?"

"This is stradge...very odd. Idcredible..."

"You found something?"

Cas showed him the book, one on microbes and infectious disease, "So many things to infect and destroy human bodies...how have you survived this long? Even to invent the vaccine? Sam, are you well? You know, any number of these could potentially kill you, and they are all commonplace. We should check on Dean..."

"Cas, hardly any of these diseases get to that stage, and lower your voice." Sam shushed him,

"I still think we should check on Dean."

"He'll be fine. Did you find anything else?"

Cas' shoulder's slumped, "No. Nothing about angels and infectious diseases. This book only mentions humans."

Sam looked at the book. Old, cheaply made and frayed, the kind you'd find in a run-down library like this. Nothing special or suggesting anything out of the ordinary, "Well, keep looking. It's only the first book you've looked at."

It had been twenty minutes and Cas was still squinting at books and Sam vaguely wondered if they should visit Jimmy's old residence and try and find a pair of glasses, because either Cas was incredibly baffled or had a serious eyesight problem.

Not only that but Cas had begun to sniffle. Quietly at first, but it was growing in loudness and frequency. It was evident the angel needed a a tissue to blow his nose but whenever Sam pushed the pack towards him as a gentle reminder, he shook his head.

"I need to stay as silent as I can, Sam."

The younger Winchester rolled his eyes and went back to his own work.

Another five minutes later, Cas pushed aside 'A Christmas Mouse' (it had been far from useful, but entertaining, if an inaccurate depiction of St Nicholas, who was not, as this book stated, an anthropomorphic mouse) and began on 'World Encyclopedia Of Mythology And Religion: Volume One'.

The book was older than the others, and had clearly not been used in some time, as when Cas cracked open the spine to look inside the scent of old paper and years gone by wafted up, along with many dust particles.

Castiel had observed Dean and Sam sneezing from dust before. Somewhere in Jimmy's memories, there was one of him sneezing profusely when he had to perform some sort of laborious cleaning task, but it had never affected him before. Until -

"Hih!"

- now.

Cas had been struggling with his dripping nose for a while now. He had resisted blowing because he knew that it made a loud noise and he didn't want to break the rules of the library. He had even resisted retrieving a tissue from the packet in case the crinkling was forbidden. The wetness already tickled his nose, but it was bearable and he could handle it, but now the dust was assaulting his poor nasal passages, he just couldn't - !

Sam looked up at Cas' audible hitching breath, "Cas...Cas, don't..." he spied the still-glaring townspeople, occasionally giving them suspicious glances, "Cas..."

"Sab, I...heeehh...cad't stop....iih! It! Eh! Heh! Hah! EEETTTCHHshhhiiii! HehSHHHHHH! Ah-hahSSSHHHHIIISHH! Sab, I'b sorry, I...aaahhhKTCHHHH!"

"Cas, grab a tissue!" Sam hissed,

The angel nodded and thurst forward into an open tissue again.

"Right, that's it, you two - out!"

"But we - " Sam protested,

"Not buts, you've been disturbing the other readers for far too long and we don't want any rabble-rousers in here! Clear off!"

"I'b sorry, Sab." Cas said quietly, azure eyes looking forlornly down at the floor, his shoulders slumped in shame.

"'Rabble-rousers'," Sam scoffed at the librarian's retreating back, "not our fault they've not seen anyone in the outside world in about a hundred years. Haven't they seen a guy with a cold before?"

"If I had beed quiet we could have done more research."

Sam looked over at the genuinely upset angel, "Come on," he said, "we should go back to Dean."

"And that," Sam concluded to an amused Dean, who was trying his hardest not to laugh at the heartbroken, shamed look on Cas' face, "is how we got kicked out of the library."

[Pyrus_Fangmon]

"'Rabble-rousers'," Sam scoffed at the librarian's retreating back, "not our fault they've not seen anyone in the outside world in about a hundred years. Haven't they seen a guy with a cold before?"

This was too perfect! I can picture it!

Love love loving this! I dont ever want this to end....

[KickingUpTheDust]

"Are you sure we should have left Cas od his owd?"

"More importantly, should I have let you come along?" Sam grumbled, flinching away from another one of Dean's sneezes, "You're sick too, y'know."

"I cad haddle it," Dean said confidently, sniffing wetly, causing Sam to turn back to the road in disgust, "I'b hubad, I've dealt with the cobbod code all by life. He hasd't."

"So you keep saying, but I think he's taking it pretty well."

"Bore like that book od idfectious diseases you let him look at scared hib idto subissiod." Dean frowned,

"I didn't 'let' him look at anything, he's a grown...man...?" Sam trailed off, wondering if he should correct himself, "Either way, let's just get this over with. I don't like this place much and I wanna get this case solved."

"What's this guy's dabe?"

"Beardsley. Brad Beardsley - saw one of the victims himself and knew him very well."

"How'd you fide out about this guy?" Dean asked, wiping his nose, "Thought dobody wadted to talk to you?"

"Local barman," Sam answered, "I was...persuasive."

Dean eyeballed his little brother, "What did you do?"

The hunter rolled his eyes, "I flashed the badge and implied that anyone suspected to be withholding evidence may be..."

"Aw, I've dever beed bore proud of you..."

"Hutrchooooo! So," Dean started, "you dew the victib quite well?"

"Yes." Brad Beardsley replied, nervously, his eyes sliding over to the window occasionally, "Bill is by cousid."

"So, why dod't you just walk us through what happed - huh, uh..."

"Er - " Brad glanced over at the window again, "Are you ok, are you - ?"

"I'b fide." Dean growled, "Just tell us what you saw."

Brad couldn't seem to stop himself from looking over at the window every couple of seconds and both brothers were becoming suspicious - what was with this guy? Had he genuinely been that spooked by the whole thing or was he just really nervous about being caught with strangers in his house?

"Buddy, this is a - hahHUHSschoooo! IssshhOOEW! Very serious - aaaeeeehhSCHOOOO! Idvestigatiod..." Dean was beginning to lose patience. He just wanted out and his nose just would not behave.

"De - Agent. Agent?" Sam started, "Why don't you wait in the car? I'll handle this."

Dean didn't want to, but the thought of a fresh pack of tissues on the car was just too damn inviting.

Damn this fucking cold.

[Pyrus_Fangmon]

Dean you sick honey bun! I just wanna snuggle you!

And Sam....I can't wait to see what you have in store for him