Chapter Text
ARROOOOGAH. ARROOOOGAH.
Sirens started to blare, echoing throughout the station and waking Dean up, alone, in the omega bunkroom as the overhead lights began blinking red. The sound of movement from the beta and alpha bunkrooms on the other side of the thin walls roused Dean even further, and he patted around blindly for his watch.
Throwing on his station’s sweatpants and tucking his work t-shirt in, Dean quickly pushed open the door to his bunk and saw other crew members in similar states of undress, their hair stuck up at different angles from sleeping.
The confusion that came from being woken up for an emergency in the middle of the night mixed with the heavy scent of anxiousness and unease in the air, and steadily grew thicker as the firefighters rubbed the sleep from their eyes and became more alert.
The omega strained to hear the dispatch information coming in through the radio; barely audible over the sound of pounding feet as the firefighters descended the flight of stairs to their station’s garage bay.
03:16
Company 26 for next due response, Rescue 30
Unknown Situation
1482 East Wolfe St., Sioux Falls
Caller states that they don’t know what’s going on, thinks there may be someone inside her neighbor’s house. Police are already on their way
Velcro ripping open filled the silence in between the dispatcher’s pauses as the crew hurriedly stepped into their thick firefighting pants and boots. Dean threw on his heavy jacket and loosely strapped his helmet under his chin before rounding the front of the firetruck and hopping into the driver seat.
“Medic 31 responding,” came the ambulance driver’s scratchy voice over the radio.
Medic 31 responding. 03:17
Be advised, the caller is now reporting that the unknown situation has become a structure fire
Re-advise: this is now a structure fire, 03:17
1482 East Wolfe St.
The structure is a small two story home; caller says that the single resident is unaccounted for, could still be inside the building
The female dispatcher’s voice ended and Dean did a quick scan of his side view mirrors, making sure none of his crew members still lingered outside the fire engine putting on gear. Satisfied, Dean turned to the gruff beta sitting next to him in the passenger seat.
“Ready to go, old man?”
Bobby straightened the white Captain’s helmet on his head, barely sparing Dean an annoyed glance before opening their laptop navigation system.
“Just drive the damn truck, ya idjit.”
Dean smirked at the beta’s lack of enthusiasm and turned the keys in the ignition, focusing on the diesel engine as it roared to life and the steering wheel began to shake in his grip, then slowly pulled the firetruck out of the station’s bays and onto the street.
“Medic Engine 26 responding.”
Medic Engine 26 responding. 03:18
The ambulance hadn’t arrived by the time Dean pulled up to the scene, but two police cruisers were parked along the curb further down the street, and their uniformed drivers quickly approached the firetruck to brief Bobby.
The rest of the firefighters hopped out of the truck, refastening straps and safety mechanisms on their gear, and pulling air masks on over their faces.
“Alright, listen up!” Bobby hollered, the police officers already retreating to the safety of their cruisers. “Owner of the home still ain’t accounted for, so it’s lookin’ like she may still be inside. Winchester and Lafitte, I want you two going in to search for the girl.”
Dean twisted around for his partner, pausing when he saw Benny already standing behind him.
“I want Zeddmore and Spangler hosing down the right side of the house,” Bobby continued, and the two firefighters set off to unroll one of the water hoses from the truck. “Ash, take Milligan over to handle the left side. I want this fire put out five minutes ago. Get movin’!”
Dean and Benny stood a moment longer while everyone started running around them, double and triple checking the seal on both of their air tanks and masks, and tightening each other’s helmets. Once they were ready, the partners gave their traditional good-luck double fist bump, and then Dean strode across the yard and kicked the front door down.
Every time Dean walked into a burning building, it felt like he was in one of those houses of mirrors that you could find at every crappy roadside carnival he’d ever snuck Sammy out to go visit. Except instead of his face being reflected back at him, there was nothing but flickering oranges and reds and smoke.
The front hall of the home wasn’t very promising. It looked just like the outside of the house - which was to say that it was completely engulfed in fire. The stairs weren’t too damaged yet, but an elephant patterned tapestry hanging next to them had flames racing up it, like a curtain of fire. The actual curtains were also on fire, Dean noted, as the two men stepped into another room, starting their strategy of working clockwise through all the rooms on a floor before moving to the next level of a house.
The next room looked like it used to be a quaint, homey living room, but the hardwood paneling had turned an ashy black and began splintering right before their eyes. Remnants of a charred rug slowly flickered underneath a leather couch placed in the middle of the room, with a blanket draped over the top that had flames sprouting from it into the air. The bottom of a cabinet decorated with picture frames on top was starting to smoke and hiss as the bottom caught fire. Dean felt a twinge of remorse for whoever was going to be losing all their pictures and memories.
Since the homeowner was obviously not trapped in the living room, Benny led them into the next one, where they were met with the thick black smoke of burning plastics as soon as they opened the door. It felt like they were treading on gum as they made their way through the room, a kitchen; the cheap linoleum of the melting floor stuck to their boots a little every time they took a step forward. It was pretty fucking nasty, if you asked Dean, and was only made worse by having to avoid dish towels scattered all over the floor and countertops, all alight with flames and turning the kitchen into a firey obstacle course.
“Why’d you think all them towels are all on the floor like that, brother?” Benny's voice buzzed over the radio.
“Beats me. Maybe there was a struggle, maybe the chick that lives here is just a slob,” Dean replied. Although he had to admit, towel material caught on fire easily, and the ones spread around there were making the hard tiled surfaces in the kitchen catch fire much quicker than they usually would have.
The black smoke from burning appliances on the countertop was quickly obscuring Dean’s vision through the air mask, and he had to feel around for the door to leave, returning the two of them back to the front hall they started in.
“Winchester, Lafitte. Gimme a status check.” The voice was partially overrun with static, but Dean could recognize Bobby’s voice anywhere, and he responded as Benny took the lead cautiously climbing the stairs.
“Searched the first floor, no sign of the home owner. We’re heading upstairs right now.”
“Copy. You boys be careful.”
Dean rolled his eyes at Bobby’s concern before following after his partner.
They had to hunch down a little to avoid the flames spread all over the ceiling, and entered the nearest doorway into a small bathroom, with bath towels littering the tile floor again, all on fire. The fuck was up with this chick leaving towels everywhere?
Benny jumped as the shower curtain, completely scorched, burned off of the shower rod and fell to the floor.
Dean gave Benny a pat on the shoulder, signaling they needed to keep moving. There were still two more closed doors down the upstairs hallway they needed to search before being able to leave the burning house.
Just then, the structure of the house gave a slight lurch and cracking noise, suggesting that Dean and Benny needed to get the fuck out of there sooner rather than later.
“You wanna split up for a sec? You take the door on the left, I’ll take right.” Came Benny's voice over the radio.
“Copy.”
The door on the left wall was further down the hallway than the right door, and Dean saw Benny stepping into the room on the right before he'd even turned door knob for the left room.
More curtains (how many damn curtains did this lady need?) were creating a cage of fire along the walls of the bedroom. A wooden dresser was completely engulfed and crumbling in one corner, but Dean’s attention completely zeroed in on the woman lying on the bed.
Thin ropes tied her wrists to the head board, and Dean didn’t need to be a Paramedic to realize the dark smudges covering her body and staining the bra and underwear she wore were dried blood instead of ashes. Thin cuts crisscrossed her exposed skin, some longer or deeper than others, and one that ran along a cheekbone on her face.
Thank fuck his woman had one of those artsy modern bed frames made entirely out of metal instead of wood, or else the woman and her bed would have both been burning like the rest of the bedroom already.
“Benny,” Dean called through the radio. “I need you in the left bedroom as soon as possible. I think I've got the homeowner.”
There wasn’t enough slack in the ropes binding her wrists to the bed posts for him to cut without hurting her, so Dean ditched his knife and frantically tried untying the knots with his hands. His firefighting gloves were proving too thick to grab at the small knots though, and he kept uselessly fumbling over them.
“Fuck it.” Dean said, throwing his arms downward, hockey fistfight-style, successfully whipping the gloves off his hands.
He half acknowledged Benny radioing back as he started unthreading the thin ropes with his bare hands. Heat from the flames made blood rush to his exposed hands, and they were stinging and itching by the time he finished freeing the woman’s right wrist.
“Holy shit, brother,” Benny’s voice buzzed over the radio again, signaling that the Cajun had finally entered the bedroom.
Dean was pretty sure he was probably-almost-halfway done undoing the left wrist while Benny removed the gag in the woman’s mouth, when he noticed that she hadn’t moved the entire time.
“Let’s get her out, c’mon.” Dean rushed as he reached down to pull his discarded gloves back on.
“Got it.”
The tiny house gave another threatening lurch, and Dean hurriedly scooped the woman up in his arms bridal style, so he wouldn’t irritate the cuts on her stomach by carrying her in a fireman’s hold. Carrying her like that would slow his movement, and take up time they couldn’t afford to lose, but he cradled her head as close as possible to his chest and followed Benny back towards the deteriorating stairs, dodging falling chunks of the ceiling as they ran.
3:24 AM.
3:24 AM.
Who the fuck was calling him at 3:24 AM? Castiel was certain that this wasn’t an acceptable time for correspondence.
The alarm clock sitting on his desk continued to blink the red numbers, mocking him.
There were a grand total of three people that could possibly be calling him right now, Castiel reasoned - and none of those calls promised good enough news to warrant the disruption of his few hours of sleep.
It could be his brother-in-law Gadreel again, asking Castiel’s opinion on some obscure pup-related topic. Last week it had taken three late night phone calls before Castiel was able to convince Gadreel that he could, in fact, trust the parenting books’ suggestion of the correct temperature to heat bottle milk to. Anna and Gadreel’s pup wasn’t even due for another month, but Castiel could humor his brother-in-law’s pup craze on occasion.
3:24 AM on a Saturday morning was not one of those occasions.
Of course, a call from Gabriel at this time wouldn’t be unheard of. Probably calling to ask for help burying a body, or whatever the hell Gabriel needed help with in his spare time. Who knew. The alpha sighed, too tired to be concerned with his older brother’s life choices right now.
Other than those two family members, the only person calling his cell would be someone from work. Castiel really hoped that wasn’t the case. He'd worked almost 70 hours this week, and had really hoped for the weekend off.
Ringggggg.
With a huff, Castiel rolled towards the cell phone on his bedside table.
“Novak.”
“Cassie! What’s shakin’, baby bro?”
“Gabriel, what-”
“So I was baking some cupcakes earlier,” Gabriel immediately jumped in, “and they just came out of the oven, and you know, turns out peach and pistachio don’t taste as good together as you’d think.”
“Gabriel, please,” Castiel pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned back into his pillow. If Gabriel was calling him now to talk about his baking experiments, Castiel was going to find a lawyer and disown him as a brother. “I don’t think anyone would think that would be a tasteful combination of flavors to begin with. Regardless, please tell me that you did not wake me up for th-“
“Hey! What do you think about raspberry and coconut together? Like in a cake, maybe? I’m thinking about making something for when Anna’s spawn gets here.”
“I-yes,” Castiel gave another defeated sigh. “I suppose that would not be the worst combination you’ve come up with.” He rolled completely back onto his bed, closing his eyes. “Gabriel, please tell me you have a legitimate reason for calling me at this hour.”
“Duh, of course I do! Michael called me today. Actually, I guess it was technically yesterday.”
Castiel groaned to himself. This phone call had to qualify as cruel or unusual punishment. Or something else illegal. He didn’t want to think about their oldest sibling right now. Or, preferably, ever. He just wanted to sleep. He needed sleep.
“Let me guess, he called to ask you about me.”
“Bingo.” Gabriel drawled the O longer into the phone. “I know you don’t want to talk to him. Hell, I don’t want to talk to him either, but at least you can’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Castiel appreciated the warning, he did, but now the only thing he’d be able to think about for the next couple of weeks was the dread of having to speak with Michael again. The alpha mumbled his thanks to Gabriel, a little annoyed and more than ready to fall back asleep.
“Brace yourself for him, buddy. So anyways, I was talking to the Captain and-"
“I would hope you would be talking to the Captain, seeing as she’s your mate.” Castiel couldn’t help interrupting. Gabriel deserved to be sassed for waking him up, but he found himself too tired to make any further remarks about how much he regretted introducing Gabriel to their police Captain, Kali, at the precinct Christmas party years ago.
For example, Castiel’s desk happened to be positioned closest to Captain Kali’s office, and he has grown very weary of being hit by wayward paper airplanes thrown by Gabriel from his own desk towards Kali’s office. Gabriel once compared his attempted method of communication to something related to a white bird and a place called Hogwarts, but Castiel highly doubted that Gabe’s obscenely sexual drawings on the airplanes depicting his evening plans with his mate were appropriate for any school aged children, magical or not.
Castiel considered it a small miracle that Gabriel was only capable of drawing stick figures.
“Yes, well, anyways-“ Gabriel sighed dramatically. “She wanted me to tell you that some house is on fire downtown that looks a lot like the work of that one serial arsonist we’ve been after for a while.”
Gabriel spoke with so much nonchalance that it took a minute before Castiel’s sleep addled brain processed what had been said.
“Wait, what?” Castiel’s eyes flew open and he whipped back the covers of his bed. “Dammit, Gabriel. Why didn’t you start the conversation with that?!”
He dove into the darkness towards the floor, where he had left his work clothes in a heap after getting home late last night.
Castiel hurriedly pulled his wrinkled slacks over the boxers he wore to bed and started running through the apartment to find his coat.
There hadn’t been a lead on this arsonist in over a month and a half, and Castiel would be damned if he didn’t at least see the flames before they were put out.
“You know,” Gabriel’s voice buzzed through the phone held between Castiel’s shoulder and cheek while he fumbled over the buttons of his dress shirt. “I’m a little hurt that you care more about some arsonist than your favorite brother.”
“Gabriel, this is your case too, we’re partners-“
“Calm down, jeez. Where’s the fire? Am I right?” Gabriel chuckled to himself over the cheesy line.
“That is exactly my problem, what is the address of the fire?”
“Oh c’mon, that was a classic joke! Ugh fine, you’re like, zero fun right now.”
“Gabriel-“
“Yeah, yeah. Texting you the address of the fire right now. Don’t get your pretty face into a car crash on your way over, little bro.”
The fire was in a suburban neighborhood a few minutes away from Castiel’s apartment, so he pulled up just in time to see firemen rush into the burning house. Slowly walking from his car, parked down the street to be safe, he absentmindedly started knotting the tie he grabbed in his rush out the door.
Castiel counted one fire truck, two police cruisers, and Gabe’s bright yellow car parked nearby; with an ambulance approaching from a couple blocks away.
Clouds of black and white smoke poured out of the house in front of him and rose high into the sky, forming a tall shadow overhead that made the whole scene appear rather ominous, Castiel thought.
As the alpha watched the flames, it was easy to assume that they had spread quickly; the house was already almost completely engulfed. The basic structure of the house still looked relatively intact though, indicating the fire must have started everywhere at almost the same time. A natural house fire would weaken at least one portion of the house first, where it originated and intensified, before catching and spreading to other parts of the house.
Only a few neighbors seemed to have taken notice of the commotion and walked onto their lawns, another indication that the flames just recently appeared. Castiel had never been the best at understanding human behavior, but he assumed there would be more people spectating a fire this large if it had been burning for some time.
Both were telltale indicators that copious amounts of lighter fluid had been used, an almost-signature sign that this fire was the work of the serial arsonist they were after.
The bitter smell of the neighbors’ fear saturating the air quickly snapped Castiel out of his own mind, however, and he turned to the alpha and beta couple huddled in bathrobes on the porch nearest him and gave what he hoped was a consoling nod before crossing the street towards the commotion surrounding the burning home.
Approaching the fire truck parked in front of the house, the air shifted to the scent of the firefighters’ anxiousness, but Castiel was too concentrated watching them shout at each other and haul water hoses around to be bothered by it.
“Hey, you got here in time for the fireworks, congrats,” Castiel jumped, noticing his brother’s vanilla bean beta scent a moment too late to be spared the surprise.
“Neighbor over there,” Gabriel continued, nodding towards a house to the left, “said she was coming back late from a ‘friend’s house’, if you know what I mean,” he waggled his eyebrows. “And was sitting in her car updating her Instagram or some shit, when she saw someone run out the back of this house,” a nod towards the burning home, “said she thought they were a robber and started calling 911, and then the place caught on fire seconds later.”
“That would explain why emergency services were able to respond to this scene much faster than the other four fires.”
“This omega might have a fighting chance,” said Gabriel, nodding again in assent, before both brothers turned to watch the firefighters spray down the small building.
They didn’t have to watch for long before something happened.
Just as Gabriel started mumbling under his breath about toasted marshmallows, a large firefighter burst out the front door, quickly followed by a taller firefighter carrying the limp body of a woman. All three of them were blackened with soot, and an explosion of flame licked at their backs as they ran; the force of it strong enough to actually knock the tall firefighter to the ground, and Castiel watched the bigger one backtrack to help the other one scramble to their feet.
The trio broke apart once they made it onto the grass. The first, larger firefighter turned and started yelling instructions to their comrades, while the one carrying the woman kept rushing directly towards the ambulance that had since pulled up behind the firetruck.
Underneath the grime and smoke clinging to the firefighter and woman, Castiel was able to scent two omegas as they hustled past where he stood. Their scents were kind of muddled together, but one smelled like absolute panic, which he was willing to bet belonged to the woman that had been trapped inside her burning home. The second scent, however, smelled like pure honey and leather, and made Castiel’s knees waver a little. A blush of heat came over his body that had nothing to do with his proximity to the fire. There were traces of anxiousness and concern, but he knew, without a doubt, the intoxicatingly sweet earthy scent belonged to the tall firefighter.
He was so absorbed with scenting and following the firefighter with his eyes, Castiel barely acknowledged Gabriel patting his shoulder and running off to talk to someone else.
The firefighter carried the woman bridal style in their arms all the way to the stretcher waiting beside the ambulance. Castiel watched them gently lower the woman onto the stretcher, where Jess, a curly blonde ambulance medic was already taking note of the woman’s injuries.
The lanky beta ambulance driver with a mousy face, who Castiel vaguely remembered was named Garth, came around from the front to pull out thick gauze-like materials from cabinets inside the ambulance and handed them to Jess, while the firefighter roughly yanked the oxygen mask off their face to say something to her.
Castiel was too far away to hear the omega’s voice over the sounds of the other firemen behind him, but it sounded decidedly masculine.
The omega fireman then took his yellow helmet off, running a sooty gloved hand through short dark blond hair, and leaving streaks of black behind as ash stuck to his sweat. A quick glance around, like the omega was looking for something, revealed the rest of the man’s features, and Castiel was pretty sure that’s when his heart stopped beating.
The fireman was absolutely gorgeous. And not in a typical omega manner that would have made Castiel’s mother proud, but in a completely original and right way.
A strong jaw line and pointed nose made up the determined structure of the man’s expression, along with light colored eyes and curved, almost feminine lips.
Castiel didn’t think he’d ever seen a more mesmerizing omega, and combined with his amazing scent, Castiel’s heart rate immediately skyrocketed with nerves from being in the same vicinity of such a perfect man.
He watched the omega replace his helmet, still talking with Jess as the two of them wrapped the woman from the house with the white sheets. A blackened glove waved away Jess and Garth, as the fireman lifted the entire stretcher and woman into the ambulance without any help, demonstrating a physical strength that made Castiel clamp down on his tongue and bite back a groan. With a slam, the firefighter closed the back doors of the ambulance, then stood back and watched it shift into drive and head to the hospital.
The omega didn’t move for another couple of seconds, and then slowly turned on the spot to lock eyes with Castiel.
He stood still for another moment before starting to walk in Castiel’s direction at an unhurried pace, expression calm - too calm - as if he wasn’t aware that Castiel has had approximately five heart attacks since laying eyes on the stunning omega.
As the fireman neared, the green of his eyes became more noticeable, and Castiel was up to six heart attacks.
“Nice shirt.” A voice like whiskey came out of the omega, the deep timbre of it lighting a spark of heat in the bottom of Castiel’s stomach and making his heart thud painfully.
Reluctantly dragging his eyes away from the brilliant spring green eyes, Castiel slowly lifted his forearm to investigate what the omega was talking about, staring at nothing but his plain white cotton dress shirt.
Confused, he glanced back up at the omega, noticing the eyes staring back at him now shone with amusement.
“No, your other one, I like it.” the omega continued to pass by, giving one last look out the corner of his eyes and a smirk before completely walking out of Castiel’s line of sight.
He looked back down towards his shirt, wondering why such an exquisite omega would say he liked the boring white shirt Castiel found on his bedroom floor and he was pretty sure was-
Fuck.
In his rush out the door, he haphazardly threw on his work clothes from yesterday over his pajamas, neglecting to also grab the white undershirt he usually wore underneath his dress shirt. So, to Castiel’s utter dismay, underneath his wrinkled day-old shirt, the black and yellow Batman logo on the shirt he wore to sleep was clearly visible through the thin dress shirt’s fabric.
Fuck. Castiel continued to glare at his chest, cursing his stupidity, until Gabriel’s voice called out to him.
“Cassie, c’mon, let’s talk to Bobby while those man servants of his start cleaning up the scene.”
A hot flash of anger shot through Castiel at the thought of that omega being anyone’s servant, making the alpha inside him rage in indignation.
Castiel froze mid-step. He knew alpha pheromones could react stronger than normal when they met a potential mate, but he had never experienced it before. Nothing had ever set his alpha off like that. Fear quickly gripped his chest, dousing the alpha anger just as quickly as it had arisen.
He had never felt that strongly towards a beta or omega. How could one whiff of that omega fireman be enough for him lose control of his baser emotions like that? Was that normal?
It didn’t matter, some miserable part of Castiel thought. There hadn’t been anything in the omega’s scent to indicate he was mated, but everything about him was too perfect to suggest the omega lacked suitors. Castiel had nothing to offer that another alpha couldn’t.
Sunlight had practically radiated out of the omega when he had given Jess a brief smile minutes ago. His eyes were so clear and pure, and Castiel was positive that he would never get to see their green shade again. It’s not like he deserved to see them again anyway.
Shaking the depressing array of emotions from his head, Castiel continued his trek towards Gabriel. Talking to Captain Singer from the fire department to figure out if any indications of foul play were discovered was more important than his feelings, Castiel reminded himself.
“What was up with that whole Dr. Freeze act just now? You looked constipated. You feeling alright?” Gabriel asked.
“I don’t understand that reference, and no,” Castiel rubbed his forehead at the headache that was slowly forming from the thoughts in his head. “I assure you that my bowel movements are quite regular. I believe the early morning and recent lack of sleep has finally caught up and is affecting me negatively.”
“I’m proud of your poop, Cassie. Keep up the good fiber.”
“Thank you Gabriel. Your support means the world to me,” Castiel replied dryly.
“I don’t doubt it. You put your tie on while walking again?”
Castiel squinted at Gabriel’s questioning look. “Yes? What relevance does that have to the situation?”
“None,” Gabriel shrugged. “Just figured you’d like to know that its backwards again.”
Looking down again, Castiel cursed. Not only was his Batman pajama shirt easily seen through the dress shirt, but he had been too distracted by the fire that he, once again, tied his tie backwards while walking from his car.
The omega surely must have been smirking at him because he appeared absolutely ridiculous. If Castiel thought the omega would never give him a chance before, he had a negative chance with him now, which didn’t even make sense in his sleep deprived mind, but was nevertheless still true.
Miserable disappointment washed over his brief embarrassment and drowned the traitorous parts inside him screaming that Castiel would gladly look ridiculous for the rest of his life just to see that smirk tease him again.
Castiel ducked his head so Gabriel wouldn’t be able to see his expression, hoping his scent didn’t give him away as they walked towards the fire Captain shouting orders to firemen around the smoking house, determined not to look up and seek out sparkling green eyes.
Dean gave one last look to the woman being wrapped like a burrito with the special burn sheets in the back of the ambulance before shutting the doors and watching them drive off.
Garth’s voice buzzed quietly out of radio strapped to his shoulder, alerting the hospital that the ambulance was on their way, but Dean’s focus was now on the scent of an alpha nearby. He scented them in the air as soon as he got the omega woman onto the stretcher, and it had taken almost everything to not turn around and start sniffing.
It smelled like rainstorms and apple pie at the same time. Like it was raining apples and cinnamon. No, maybe more like there was a thunderstorm inside an apple pie bakery. That didn’t sound right either, Dean decided, but God damn if it wasn’t the most amazing scent he had ever smelled in his entire life. His inner omega was practically drooling in appreciation of it.
Dean almost didn’t want to turn around and find out who the alpha was. The smell was too good to be real. With Dean’s luck, chances were that it was some butt ugly alpha with a superiority complex that would ruin the scent of apple pies for Dean for like, forever.
Suck it up, Winchester. It’s just a smell.
With a deep breath, accidentally allowing more of the scent to bless his nostrils, he steeled himself to turn back around and help his crew finish putting out the fire.
As soon as he turned, he caught sight of an alpha standing by the end of the fire truck and glaring at Dean.
The alpha seemed pretty attractive, Dean guessed, even though the guy was scowling. Medium height, probably a little shorter than Dean, tan-ish skin, and messy dark hair that made it look like he had just gone three rounds in bed with someone that Dean was really starting to wish was him.
His smell though, and it couldn’t be anyone else’s smell but his - no one else was close enough, and Dean already knew what all the alphas on his fire crew smelled like. This man’s scent was heavenly.
If Dean walked the long way around the truck just so he could get closer to the source of the amazing scent, nobody had to know.
As he approached, the alpha standing as frozen as a statue, Dean realized his assessment of pretty attractive was a massive understatement. The alpha’s face was all sharp angles, high cheekbones, and full lips pulled into a tight frown, which was more adorable than it should have been.
The alpha’s eyes were what really tripped Dean up. They were without a doubt the most striking blue eyes he had ever seen, and had the omega inside Dean itching to present to this alpha.
Dean shut down his inner omega immediately. He didn’t need to be affected like that by some random alpha, and he certainly wasn’t going to present for him. Stranger danger, and all that jazz. He wasn’t one of those weak omegas that threw themselves on alphas’ feet just for a knot, and he didn’t plan on starting now.
Deciding that staring at the alpha’s eyes anymore was dangerous, he dropped his gaze and checked out the ugly trench coat and baggy dress clothes that practically drowned the brunet’s figure, noticing that the underside of his tie was showing. Dean focused on that tie, the same blue as the man’s eyes, and glanced at the shirt beneath the tie. The colors of a black undershirt and a yellow logo bleeding through were just barely visible through the thin dress shirt’s material.
“Nice shirt,” Dean looked back up at the blue eyes. Dude was clearly wearing a Batman shirt underneath his work clothes, and Dean was digging it. Maybe it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to present to this alpha, if his taste in superheroes was that awesome.
The guy stared at the cuff of his shirt peeking out the end of the trench coat’s sleeve, before looking back at Dean, head in a confused tilt.
“No,” Dean couldn’t hold back his smirk any longer, “the other one, I like it.”
The alpha didn’t look back down though, keeping his eyes locked on Dean’s as they passed.
Smooth, Winchester, real smooth. Dean hadn’t planned on saying anything to the guy, but the confused puppy look the alpha gave him was adorable enough to make Dean not even care how awkward his words had been. Nice shirt? Seriously? Jesus.
Benny was on the other side of the fire truck attempting to brush ash off the sleeves of his uniform, which was more than a little futile, when Dean finally made it around to the front of the truck and the two firefighters faced the burning house.
“You think she’s gonna be alright, brother?”
“No idea, but Jess’ll do whatever she can. Most of her burns looked first or second degree,” Dean eyed the soot dusting his own air mask before refastening it back around his face, as he and Benny rejoined the firefighters near the house. The flames were almost completely put out, surprisingly fast, but there were still some hot spots in the structure they needed to work on.
“True, they didn’t look too bad. You notice she had blood all over though?”
Dean looked over at Benny. The smell of the alpha’s concern mixed in with his usual woodsy scent and was noticeable even through the thick layers of their gear.
“Yeah, a lot of blood.” Dean sighed. “Smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning are always real bitches, but I’m guessing that whatever the fucker did to her before she got tied up in there was probably worse.”
“Sick son of a bitch.” Benny’s deep voice rumbled.
Dean couldn’t help but agree.
Looking around to survey the crew’s progress, he spotted Bobby talking to two men a little further down the sidewalk. One of them was the blue eyed alpha, standing a couple inches taller than the long haired man next to him. The second man was holding out a badge of some sort to Bobby and asking him something.
Dean let his eyes trace over the serious expression on the alpha’s face, lingering a little longer where he knew the Bat Signal was hiding on the alpha’s broad chest, before returning his focus to the house.
Castiel didn’t know how Gabriel always managed to get out of going to the hospital to ask questions, but there Castiel was, walking through the hospital parking lot alone.
Their talk with Captain Singer had been useless; the only information of interest he had was that the smoke alarm inside the house never went off, which was also the case in the other four arsonist’s fires. Singer hadn’t been able to provide anything further about the fire, since his crew was still too busy putting out the flames to analyze much of anything, putting Castiel and Gabriel out of luck - and resulting in Castiel having to travel to the hospital in search of answers.
Automatic doors slowly inched open as he approached, admitting Castiel into the Emergency Room’s lobby. The strong smell of disinfectant and sickness surrounded him, almost drowning out the lingering scents of the two ambulance workers and the female omega that had been pulled from the fire.
Castiel had to shut down his inner alpha’s momentary burst of pride over his omega saving her, because it was illogical to consider a man he exchanged eye contact with once to be ‘his omega’. Not to mention also derogatory and offensive to whomever the fireman happened to be.
With a sigh at his annoying inner monologue, he turned a corner and typed in the key code to the EMS Work Room, where Castiel had been informed ambulance providers ‘hung out’ to fill out paperwork after dropping off patients.
Sure enough, as soon as the door swung open, Castiel was greeted with the fresher scents of a mated beta and mated omega. Taking a step into the room, he saw the smiling faces of the two ambulance workers.
“Detective Castiel! We saw you at that fire, a real shame we didn’t get a chance to come over and say hi before we left, though. How’re you doin’, friend?” Garth stood up from his chair and wrapped a lanky arm around Castiel’s shoulders and squeezed.
The alpha had been previously unaware that his relationship with the mated beta had reached an intimate enough level that allowed for hugging, but the contact wasn’t completely unpleasant, and Castiel gave a singular pat to the beta’s back before taking a step away.
“Fine. Thank you. My partner and I have been in charge of a case involving a serial arsonist, whom we believe is responsible for the fire we were just at.”
“Well, Detective,” Garth lowered his voice and gave the alpha a look that Castiel could only describe as the epitome of overly-concerned; “you know that we’re here to help in any way we can for your investigation."
Jess’ curly ponytail bounced as she nodded in agreement, too focused on the patient information she was filing out on a laptop to verbalize anything.
“Thank you for your assistance. I was actually hoping that the victim from the house fire might be awake and able to answer some questions?”
“No can do, hombre. She’s still out cold,” Garth said as he returned to his chair.
“She didn’t wake up at all when we were transporting her here either,” Jess added, looking up from the paperwork. “The hospital staff put her in a medically induced coma once we got here to reduce inflammation. The amount of blood she lost is making her internal systems weaker; it might have made her more susceptible to damage from the smoke and chemicals she breathed in, and it’ll make it harder for her body to recover at all.”
“Ah,” Castiel sighed, unsurprised but still feeling a little upset about the victim’s condition and that his and Gabe’s questions would go unanswered again. “Well, thank you for the information, and for your time.”
He started moving towards the door when Jess quietly spoke again.
“All the other victims have died, right?”
Castiel nodded, the scent of Garth’s sadness joining the worried scents already circling the air. “Yes. This woman is the only one that’s made it to a hospital alive. Three of the other victims were pronounced dead at the scene of the fire, and one passed during the ambulance ride.”
Which, despite the incredibly depressing topic, immediately reminded Castiel again of the beautiful green eyed omega that had saved the life of the only surviving omega victim. His inner alpha tried to swell with pride again that his- not his- omega was so heroic. Castiel stomped it deep down before the scent could be smelled on him, which would have been a very inappropriate scent given the current conversation.
Speaking of the omega though, a traitorously logical part of his brain kept shouting that the firefighter would have to be debriefed about what he saw in the burning home, and could possibly provide better answers than Captain Singer. “So, um,” Castiel started, nervous lump forming in his throat. “The fireman that saved her, you, uh, you know him?” the alpha finished lamely.
He had seen the green eyed man talking to Jess before putting the unconscious omega in the ambulance, and their conversation had seemed to flow fairly smoothly, with smiles exchanged, possibly an indicator of a previously established friendship, or maybe because the omega’s perfectly pink lips had been too hypnotic to ignore when they moved to talk, forming out words with-
“Oh, you mean Dean?”
Castiel sighed in grateful relief that Jess interrupted the increasingly sexual and unprecedented thoughts in his head.
“I-yes, I suppose. Dean.” The alpha cleared his throat, “I believe questioning him may be beneficial for the investigation.”
God, he needed to get himself under control if he was going to make himself interview to the omega. Dammit. He shouldn’t. He shouldn’t interview the firefighter. He could just ask Bobby questions again. It would be fine. This was a bad idea.
“Oh, of course!” Jess jumped out of her seat enthusiastically, digging through her pockets for something, and Castiel’s inner alpha couldn’t help but agree that he’d be that excited too if he was on a first name basis with such a stunning omega.
“Man, Dean’s crazy! Stubborn sonnovabitch, too. Gotta love that man,” Garth chuckled, shaking his head fondly.
“That, he is.” Jess leveled Garth with an annoyed expression, the corners of her lips betraying the beginnings of an amused smile. “The only person I know that’s more stubborn than Dean, is Sam. How lucky I am to be stuck with both of them.” Her smile turned sarcastic as she turned back to Castiel. “Dean’ll be more than happy to talk to you, Castiel. I’m pretty sure his shift ends at 7AM, but I’d wait until the afternoon to ask him anything. He’s pretty grumpy before he gets his after-shift nap.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.” Castiel hoped his voice didn’t betray the hint of disappointment sinking through him at not being able to talk to the omega until later, but nervous excitement still jolted awkwardly through his body over the thought of talking to Dean. Which Castiel still wasn’t sure he should do; his inner alpha would most likely do something rash around the omega, and Castiel couldn’t handle the thought of embarrassing himself further in front of the firefighter.
If this was what infatuation felt like, he’s not sure he liked it. The feelings were very confusing.
“Sounds good. I have his number if you want?” Jess finally pulled out what she had been looking for in her pockets, a cell phone, and looked at Castiel expectantly.
“Oh, n-no. That’s fine. I-uh, I don’t need it.” The alpha felt his cheeks start to burn, and he looked down at his hands to hide the blush spreading over his face. Having the omega’s personal cell phone would be too intimate. He didn’t even know Dean. He wanted to.
Castiel swore in that moment Jess was a mind reader, because she started looking at him with a too knowing smile, and he didn’t like it a all. “Well, how are you supposed to question him if you don’t have his phone number? It is for a very important investigation, after all. Right, Castiel?”
Dammit, Jess. “Y-yes. I suppose his contact information would be helpful for… contacting him.” Castiel could almost punch himself for how pathetic he sounded. Gabriel most certainly would have.
Jess’ smile grew wider as she slid her phone over the work room’s table towards Castiel, and he copied Dean’s phone number into his own cell.
“Thank you. I’ll be sure to notify you two if I need any more information regarding this morning.” Castiel said once he finished, and walked over to the door, opening it and peering into the ER’s lobby once again.
“Hey Detective,” Garth’s voice called back just as the alpha had begun to step out of the EMS workroom. “Good luck.” The beta winked, and Castiel had a feeling Garth wasn’t talking about the investigation.
The alpha gave a quick nod to the two of them before practically running to escape.
Unbelievable. When had he turned into such an absolute mess? The only thing that could have made his affections more obvious was if he had shouted over the hospital intercom that he was head over heels for an omega firefighter he’d barely met, at the scene of a hate crime fire.
This was so not the relaxing Saturday he had envisioned for himself.